GM’s final battery strategy copies Chinese play book: very cheap cells

General Motors It has just announced the latest and latest final article. EVS During the end of the contract and beyond.

General Motors Today it is mentioned that it will build low -cost lithium iron phosphate cells (LFP) in Spring Hill, Tennessee, starting in late 2027. The cell factory in the Spring Hill complex is owned by Ultium Cells, a GM joint battery company with a LG Energy solution. GM assembly factory in the same complex builds Cadillac Like And acura zdx electrical SUV.

During the era of Court Keelti, Vice President of Battery, Payment, and Sustainability, the company varied from its previous strategy represented in a “one cell for all EVS”. Kelti was appointed in February 2024 after the work periods in Timing and PanasonicAnd it is widely respected in this industry.

It is expected to use the LFP cells made by Ultium in the updated 2026 Chevrolet Bolt EV, which should reveal GM within two to three months. It will enter production at the Kansas factory before the end this year. During the first two years, he will have to use the LFP cells imported from another LG factory – specifically in South Korea. Those imports that allow General Motors program to obtain inexpensive iron phosphate batteries on American roads three years ago The following cell chemistry, called LMRAnd he says does not cost more than LFP, but has a higher energy density.

However, converting a factory – at an unlimited cost – to build LFP cells indicates that they will be used in the collection for a period of time.

LMR promise in the future

To date, all GM EVS was used after 2017-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV nickel-Mangani-cobalum aluminum cells (NMCA). They carry the largest amount of energy in a specific size, but they also offer due to nickel and cobalt content. Delay Ultium units production These cells have pushed the GM’s EV for 12 to 18 months, from late 2022 to early 2024. (GM EV sales rose steadily for three quarters, indicating that these problems may be in the past.)

This May, Ultium has announced the chemistry of the second cellIt is called “rich manganese lithium” or LMR. It claims that LMR chemistry provides a third of the density of more energy than the same volume of Lithium Iron Phosphate cells (LFP)-at a similar cell cost-and will reduce the cost of the largest EV trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles. These vehicles are used from Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC huge battery ranging from 109 to 205 kilowatts.

The first LMR cells will come from a demo line in 2027; Full production of 2028 is scheduled to be produced in the Ultium Factory. With Spring Hill now set to produce LFP cells, it seems likely that LMR cells from other Ultium cells now come in production – in Warren, Ohio.

Chemistry compact

Adding Li -Gilvati iron tours outside the group of chemicals that General Motors are likely to use in EVS from this year to the early thirties. This applies, at least, to those who have been produced outside China; The various models that it adopted in China have long included Chemistries LFP, the dominant chemistry in that country.

A lot of intellectual property about Chemistries LFP is owned by Chinese companies, which caused a problem to Ford as it tries to add LFP cells to future EV models. A GM Wire spokesman told that there is no intellectual ownership of the LFP cells that you will produce with the LG Energy Solution partner owned by any Chinese entity.