GM mentioned Monday it’s working with three way partnership companion LG Power Resolution to improve its Ultium battery manufacturing unit to make lithium-iron-phosphate cells for the automaker’s low-cost EVs.
The manufacturing unit’s overhaul will give LFP manufacturing in america a major increase. Regardless of being invented and commercialized within the U.S., at this time the overwhelming majority of LFP cells are at the moment made in China.
The $2.3 billion Spring Hill, Tennessee, battery plant is a part of the Ultium Cells LLC three way partnership between the automaker and Korean battery maker LG Power Resolution, a division of LG chem. The manufacturing unit started pumping out lithium-ion cells, which have a nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry, in 2024, about three years after it was first introduced. The corporate mentioned it can start changing its battery cell strains at Spring Hill to supply LFP cells later this yr, with business manufacturing anticipated by late 2027.
The automotive trade has been gravitating to LFP batteries in recent times for his or her low value and interesting security profile. The uncooked supplies that make up the chemistry are cheaper and extra broadly accessible than different chemistries like nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC), they usually’re additionally much less prone to catch hearth.
GM has been pursuing a three-pronged method to battery sourcing for its EV vary, which at the moment spans 12 fashions.
On the excessive finish, it can proceed utilizing NMC in fashions that require longer vary. The longest-legged Chevy Silverado EV, for instance, makes use of a large 205 kilowatt-hour NMC pack to drive 492 miles on a single cost.
Within the center, GM has developed a brand new chemistry it calls lithium-manganese-rich, or LMR. The brand new chemistry slashes the quantity of nickel and cobalt in a cell and replaces it with cheaper, domestically accessible manganese. The outcome, GM mentioned, will probably be a pack that delivers extra vary than LFP at a price that’s akin to LFP at this time. LMR cells ought to hit the market in 2028.
For entry stage autos, GM is planning to modify to LFP, Andy Oury informed TechCrunch in Could. Given how constantly battery pack prices have come down over time, it’s possible that LFP prices will drop beneath these for LMR within the coming years. The Spring Hill upgrades ought to begin producing LFP cells for business sale in 2027.
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