Latest news with #AndrewOury
The Advertiser
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Advertiser
Why GM is betting on a new type of EV battery
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. "We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. "LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR." Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. "That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury. But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. "One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury. "The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. "There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. "So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. "Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant." Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. "That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. "Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury. "We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. "We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific." He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury. Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. "This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. "We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia. Content originally sourced from: General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. "We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. "LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR." Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. "That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury. But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. "One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury. "The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. "There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. "So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. "Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant." Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. "That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. "Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury. "We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. "We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific." He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury. Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. "This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. "We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia. Content originally sourced from: General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. "We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. "LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR." Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. "That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury. But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. "One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury. "The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. "There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. "So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. "Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant." Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. "That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. "Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury. "We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. "We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific." He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury. Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. "This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. "We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia. Content originally sourced from: General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. "We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. "LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR." Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. "That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury. But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. "One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury. "The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. "There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. "So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. "Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant." Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. "That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. "Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury. "We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. "We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific." He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury. Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. "This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. "We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia. Content originally sourced from:
7NEWS
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- 7NEWS
Why GM is betting on a new type of EV battery
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. 'We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place,' GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. 'LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR.' Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. 'That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines,' said Mr Oury. But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. 'One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1,' explained Mr Oury. 'The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. 'There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. 'So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. 'Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant.' Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. 'That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can,' said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. 'Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles,' said Mr Oury. 'We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. 'We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific.' He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so 'more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry', explained Mr Oury. Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. 'This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing,' explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. 'We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are,' said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
Perth Now
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- Perth Now
Why GM is betting on a new type of EV battery
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs). The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles. 'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt. 'We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place,' GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan. 'LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR.' Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. Supplied Credit: CarExpert The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants. GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay. But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells. Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries. 'That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines,' said Mr Oury. Supplied Credit: CarExpert But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost. 'One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1,' explained Mr Oury. 'The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable. 'There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'. 'So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way. Supplied Credit: CarExpert 'Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant.' Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent. With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent. 'That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can,' said Mr Oury. That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup. Supplied Credit: CarExpert 'Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles,' said Mr Oury. 'We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments. 'We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific.' He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km. With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so 'more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry', explained Mr Oury. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead. GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping. Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually. 'This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing,' explained Mr Oury. GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures. Supplied Credit: CarExpert With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent. 'We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are,' said Mr Oury. GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share. GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup. The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
The Verge
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Verge
GM says new battery chemistry will enable 400-mile range EVs
General Motors is teaming up with LG to develop lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries for its electric trucks and SUVs. The automaker says that the new chemistry is safer, more energy dense, and less costly than the current technology. GM aims to become the first automaker to deploy LMR batteries in EVs, with plans to start commercial production in the US by 2028. Last month, Ford announced that it would start adopting LMR batteries for its EVs, but not until 2030. In EV batteries, the cathode, or negative electrode, are typically made with NCM — nickel, cobalt, and magnesium. Cobalt is a key component in this mix, but it's also the most expensive material in the battery and mined under conditions that often violate human rights, leading it to be called the 'blood diamond of batteries.' As a result, GM and other companies like Tesla are rushing to create a cobalt-free battery. As an alternative, LMR battery cells use a higher proportion of more affordable and plentiful manganese, while also delivering greater capacity and energy density. GM has prototyped approximately 300 full-size LMR cells as it worked with LG Energy Solution to crack the code on the chemistry. 'We like to joke that it's as cheap as dirt,' says Andrew Oury, a battery engineer at GM, referring to manganese. GM's current crop of electric Chevys and Cadillacs use high-nickel batteries, which supply enough energy for around 300–320 miles of range. The new LMR batteries are denser, with greater space efficiency due to their prismatic shape, enabling up to 400 miles of range, GM says. Prismatic cells are packed flat in rigid cases and are generally thought to be less complex to manufacture than cylindrical cells. Less complexity and cheaper materials will hopefully lead to lower-cost EVs, which has been a significant challenge for the auto industry's shift to electric vehicles. 'The EV growth rate is really dependent on how quickly we can bring the costs down over time,' says GM's VP for batteries Kurt Kelty. 'And this is the biggest lever we have. Batteries make up roughly 30 to 40 percent of the cost of vehicles. And if you can drop that down significantly like we're doing here, then it ends up being a lower cost to the consumer.' The cells will be produced by Ultium Cells, GM and LG's joint venture, with preproduction expected to begin in late 2027. The final design will be validated at GM's Battery Cell Development Center in Warren, Michigan, which opens earlier that year, as well as LG Energy Solution's facility. Last year, GM sold its stake in the Lansing-based EV battery factory to LG. 'We like to joke that it's as cheap as dirt.' GM says the LMR batteries are the result of 'decades-long research and investment in technology' that will give it the leg up over its competitors. GM began researching manganese-rich lithium-ion battery cells in 2015, including prototyping LMR cells at its Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center. There could be some challenges to mass producing LMR batteries. LMR materials have been known to experience significant capacity loss, which could lead to lower driving ranges and thermal stability degradation. GM says it is aware of these challenges and confident that it could innovate the production process in a way to minimize those risks. The automaker's engineers say the LMR batteries were expected to perform similarly to GM's first-generation high-nickel batteries, even in extreme temperatures. Automakers are racing to slash EV costs before President Donald Trump's trade war raises the prices for key materials imported from China, which is the world's leading producer of EV batteries, with over 70 percent of global lithium-ion battery production taking place there. 'We expect our localization of materials for the battery supply chain to increase between now and 2028,' Kelty says. 'And LMR is part of that story, because we get more of the materials locally.'
