GM is ditching its one-size-fits-all Ultium battery system and adopting other cell formats
The company is working on alternative battery chemistries.
GM is charting a course away from its Ultium battery system. The company is dropping that standardized approach in favor of a wider range of battery cell chemistries and physical formats.
The automaker had hoped that, by adopting a unified system across all of its EVs as well as other products, it would be able to reduce costs and ship them faster. The plan was to pack the flat pouch-style Ultium cells into a variety of modules depending on what was needed for each EV.
Things haven't gone smoothly, as Ars Technica notes. Among other things, COVID-19 slowed down the company's EV roadmap and there were problems with the robots that assembled the modules.
"It now makes business sense to transition from one-size-fits-all to new program-specific batteries," Kurt Kelty, GM's vice president of batteries, said at an investor event. The automaker hopes that switching from Ultium's nickel cobalt manganese chemistry to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery tech will lower the cost of its EVs by as much as $6,000. As The Verge notes, Tesla and Ford are among those that use LFP cells, which are said to be cheaper and less complicated to manufacture. The second-gen Chevy Bolt, which is slated to arrive in late 2025, will use such batteries.
GM plans to build a new battery research facility at the Warren Tech Center in Michigan. The team there will explore cylindrical and prismatic cells in addition to the pouch format. Researchers will also look into alternative battery chemistries.
The shift in battery strategy comes as GM chases profitability in its EV division. The company said it's getting close to that point. It's on track to build and sell around 200,000 EVs this year. GM now claims to be the number two EV seller in North America behind Tesla.
