Yesterday morning, the battery lab located at GM’s Warren Technical Center suffered an explosion great enough to hospitalize a worker, supposedly for non-life threatening injuries, thankfully. But the incident also sparked curiosity. What was the battery for? How did it explode and why? Who’s the supplier? And what will become of the battery lab?
Here’s the followup:
Starting with the last question, the battery lab has been shut down indefinitely due to the extensive damage from the big kabosh, though all adjacent facilities will operate as if it never happened. It’s also been reported that the injured employee will spend another day in the hospital. And as mentioned in the title, the battery featured prototype cells supplied by A123 Systems — the same company that will supply the battery cells for the upcoming Cadillac ELR and Chevrolet Spark EV. According to The Detroit News, “Chemical gases from the battery cells were released and ignited in the enclosed chamber. The battery itself was intact.” This particular battery was for the Spark EV, according to Fox News.
We imagine GM and A123 will be doing everything to make the next batch of battery prototypes more stable than before.
Comments
Taking into consideration the agenda-driven and innaccurate “reporting” Fox News is doing about the Volt I think I will get my news on this incident from a more accurate and politically neutral source, like Al Jazeera.
Amen to that or PBS’s BBC World New…….Damn Shame when you have to look at Foreign News to get Real News for America!!!!
How about GM Authority 🙂
Why, of course. But you quoted Fox so……
It’s the only lead available until further notice. And if it’s an A123-sourced battery, it’s not hard to believe, even if we shake our heads at 99% of the content Fox News comes up with.
Do you need a balding, fat, high strung, high cholesterol, high blood pressure commentator who’s never heard of lunar tidal movement?
This shouldn’t make the news! That’s why they have a lab. To test and to put things into extreme conditions so that it’s safe when it makes it to production. If this battery incident happened out in the real world, whole different story.
Tony… Love you comment BBC World News is the only news outlet I get my news from, all others are sensationalized garbage…
Put a tank full of gasoline in an enclosed space and add a source of ignition, and see what happens.