General Motors' battery technology chief said the company may move away from low-cost iron-based battery technology that many automakers are using to lower the cost of electric vehicles. The Detroit automaker has previously said it plans to develop lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for use in future electric vehicle models and plans to begin production of the cells at a joint venture plant in Tennessee by the end of 2027.
But GM battery chief Kurt Kelty said this week that the company is focusing on developing a different battery chemistry, a lithium-rich manganese battery (LMR), which the company says costs about the same as the LFP produced in the United States but can store more energy at the same weight and size.
Kelty said General Motors may no longer use lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles. He said the Tennessee factory will start producing lithium iron phosphate batteries this month, but the cells will be used in energy storage systems.
"There's a chance that lithium iron phosphate batteries won't end up in our product portfolio," Kelty said after a GM event in San Francisco on Tuesday, calling liquid-metal lithium batteries "the workhorse" for GM. "We will devote most of our production capacity to liquid metal lithium batteries," he said.
General Motors has been developing lithium-rich manganese batteries (LMR) for more than a decade. Rival Ford Motor Co said last year it was working to expand the application of LMR technology for use in future electric vehicles.
S&P Global pointed out last year that although LMR technology has many advantages, such as reducing dependence on key minerals, technical challenges such as battery performance degradation with use mean that LMR technology will be difficult to achieve large-scale application in the short term.
Abandoning lithium iron phosphate batteries would mark a departure from GM's battery strategy from that of many of its rivals.
Chinese automakers have pioneered the use of lower-cost lithium iron phosphate batteries, which have lower energy density (resulting in shorter range) but are also cheaper and considered safer and more durable than the nickel-rich batteries used by many U.S. and European automakers.
Many global automakers, including Tesla, Rivian and Ford Motor, have launched electric vehicles powered by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries to reduce costs and provide more affordable electric vehicle options.
General Motors has launched more than a dozen electric vehicles in the United States over the past few years that use more powerful nickel-rich batteries. But the company's recently launched Chevrolet Bolt - its cheapest electric car for the U.S. market - uses lithium iron phosphate batteries from Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
GM said last year it aimed to begin commercial production of LMR batteries at U.S. plants in 2028. Kelty did not confirm whether that date was still the target but said development of the LMR was "on track".