GM’s New Battery Tech Could Be a Breakthrough for Affordable EVsNEWS | 14 May 2025General Motors is bringing in potentially groundbreaking new battery tech that not only has 30 percent more energy density at the existing production cost for cells but also would circumvent China's stranglehold on intellectual property for EV batteries. The company even claims this new type of battery pack could lower the cost of its electric SUVs so they're comparable to their gasoline counterparts.
The news came today as GM has announced it will use lithium manganese-rich (LMR) battery cells in its largest electric vehicles, the full-size trucks and SUVs sold by Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac. They are to be produced by Ultium Cells, its joint-venture battery company with LG Energy Solutions. The first such cells will come from a pilot line in 2027, with full volume production in 2028 at a plant it hasn’t disclosed.
The new cells are in the prismatic format, versus Ultium’s current pouch cells, which use a nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum chemistry. Those cells, in large standardized modules, power GM’s entire current EV lineup, from the compact Chevrolet Equinox EV up to the GMC Hummer EV.
The new prismatic cells appear even larger than Ultium’s pouch cells, though GM did not provide dimensions. They will be housed in modules that, overall, have 50 percent fewer parts than their predecessors. That may prevent delays like those that delayed volume production of its Ultium modules by 12 to 18 months, pushing deliveries of several models from late 2022 to early 2024.
Lower Cost, Higher Energy Density
A full-size prototype GM LMR battery cell. GM has apparently prototyped 300 full-size LMR cells to crack the code on the new chemistry that offers up a third more energy density at no extra production cost. Photograph: Steve Fecht for General Motors
Crucially, GM claims its Ultium battery engineers have created a chemistry that provides one-third greater energy density than comparable lithium iron-phosphate (LFP)—at a comparable cell cost. China owns virtually all the intellectual property around LFP chemistry, which costs less in materials than NMCA because it uses none of those metals. The trade-off for lower cost is lower energy density by volume.Author: Andy Greenberg. John Voelcker. Luke Larsen. Scharon Harding. Ars Technica. Wired Staff. Lily Hay Newman. Steven Levy. Matt Burgess. Julian Chokkattu. Source
