Chevy Volt Takes a Dive

What would happen if your Chevy Volts battery pack got wet during a carwash? What if you tried to drive it through a foot of standing water after a rainstorm? What would happen if you lost control of your Chevy Volt and drove it into a canal?

Picture of Chevy Volt Takes a Dive - for Safety! [source:gas2.org]

Water and electricity do not go hand in hand, exactly, and despite the excitement and energy surrounding Chevys upcoming Volt EV, a number of people are still asking questions about the basic safety of the Volts powerful batteries.

GM took those concerns to heart, and released some rare behind the scenes commentary on the cars underwater testing on GMs VoltAge blog.

GMs blog quotes Lance Turner, the lead engineer in the Volts battery lab, who explains that the (Volts) battery, although not hermetically sealed, sealed to be maximally waterproof. Special attention is given to the connection between the high voltage lines coming out of the front of the pack to the inverter, and these are sealed especially well.

In addition to being sealed extra tight, Turner explains some interesting new technology already in use on the prototype Volt battery packs that actually detects water seepage, allowing it to shut itself down in the event water is detected.

Technical details are scarce, but Turner describes testing the device, below.

Once the car was in, it was turned on and the seawater was gradually added. There was an extensive system of monitors including current detectors placed over test dummies in the seats, and noxious gas detectors.

As soon as the water level reached the battery, it shut down. There were some crackles and pops sounds, but in the end no significant current flowed into the dummies.

GM also shared some early test footage of the pre production Volt IVer prototypes going through the companys universal water chamber, which tests against leaks in a number of real world worst case scenario rain and water conditions. If there are any problems found here, theyll be fixed before the first Volt reaches customer hands.[source:gas2.org]

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