In some ways, the lithium-ion battery is the combustion-engine equal for EVs. It defines how EVs are constructed, bought and pushed. However not like gasoline engines, which take years and billions of {dollars} to develop for every new car, a well-designed battery platform can do much more with loads much less. If executed well and scaled aggressively, a single EV structure can energy a whole lineup, slashing prices, rushing growth and probably reaping massive dividends in the long run.
Common Motors isn’t simply embracing this strategy, it’s betting the home on it.
GM’s battery operations within the U.S. are actually so huge and expansive that the corporate is already producing extra cells than Tesla, in keeping with Bloomberg’s newest deep dive into its EV plans. And the crops aren’t even working at full capability. GM’s $2.3 billion Ultium Cells battery manufacturing unit within the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, spans 5 soccer fields and runs 24 hours a day, 7 days every week. It cranks out 5,000 completed battery cells each hour.
Ultium Cells LLC Battery Plant in Warren, Ohio
One other $2.3 billion facility in Lordstown, Ohio additionally produces EV batteries en masse. They’re each co-owned by GM and Korean battery big LG Vitality Resolution. Collectively they provide packs to fashions just like the Chevy Equinox EV and Cadillac Lyriq that are actually more and more in style within the U.S.
A part of that momentum comes down to cost, particularly for the Equinox EV. On the BloombergNEF summit earlier this 12 months, Kurt Kelty—Tesla’s former battery chief and now GM’s head of battery and propulsion—mentioned GM slashed battery prices by $60 per kilowatt-hour final 12 months. In 2025 he’s concentrating on one other $30 drop by ramping up manufacturing and enhancing manufacturing yield, which refers back to the proportion of elements made efficiently, with out defects.
If GM succeeds, it will possibly obtain round $100 per kWh, a 50% value discount in comparison with battery prices in 2023, and presumably even undercutting Tesla. For context, the common pack price in China is $94 per kWh, in keeping with BNEF. That places GM inside putting distance of the world’s most cost-competitive EV market.
Nonetheless, it’s not fairly there but. The battery pack on the Blazer EV and Equinox EV prices about $13,000, considerably greater than what GM pays for an engine and transmission on its gasoline vehicles. So there’s extra floor to cowl.
To shut that hole, GM is making ready to pivot from its present battery modules to prismatic cells. GM shaped a $3.5 billion three way partnership with Samsung SDI final 12 months to construct a 640-acre manufacturing unit in New Carlisle, Indiana to construct these prismatic cells. These kinds of cells, formed like rectangular bricks, match completely collectively with none waste of house and can assist GM EVs drop some weight and enhance vary, in keeping with Kelty.
This plant was anticipated to start manufacturing subsequent 12 months, however has been delayed to 2027. Even then, GM’s EV guess could now be irreversible. The dimensions, scope, and funding are too massive to stroll again. Political and regulatory headwinds may sluggish issues down within the brief time period, however GM’s long-term EV dedication appears to be like all however locked in.
Contact the writer: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
