GM, LG Energy Solution to make new, lower-cost battery cells for future EVs

General Motors (GM) and battery partner LG Energy Solution are planning to start commercial production of lower-cost cells for future electric vehicles at a U.S. facility starting in 2028, the companies said on Tuesday.

The cells will have a lithium manganese-rich (LMR) chemistry, which GM says is lower cost than the nickel-rich cells used today, but will still give customers the range they want in future electric trucks and full-size SUVs.

The cells will also be prismatic versus the current pouch structure, reducing the number of parts in the battery pack by more than 50 per cent, according to GM.

The Detroit automaker, which now has 12 electric vehicles in its lineup, is trying to lower its battery costs to enable cost parity with its gas-powered products by adding new types of cells and chemistries in those cells.

"We're adopting flexible chemistries for the best balance of range, performance and affordability," said Kurt Kelty, GM's vice president of battery, propulsion and sustainability, during a media briefing on the announcement.

"My mission here is to get as many EVs on the road as possible. We need to get price parity with (internal combustion engine vehicles) and then this thing's just going to take off."

LG Energy Solution is a South Korean-based battery company that's also partnering with Stellantis at the massive NextStar Energy EV battery factory in Windsor, Ont. Some production is already underway with workers assembling batteries into groups known as modules last year. It's expected to eventually employ 2,500 people.

Despite word on Tuesday that Honda was postponing plans for its Ontario EV plant by at least two years, the NextStar plant still remains on track. However, a firm full production opening date has yet to be set.

The LMR cells for the GM facility will be made at one of the two LG-GM joint-venture Ultium Cells battery plants the companies have in Ohio and Tennessee. With the LMR prismatic cells, GM expects to offer more than 640 kilometres of range in a single charge on an electric truck, "while significantly reducing our battery costs," Kelty said.

GM is expecting to reduce its battery pack costs by $30 USD per kilowatt-hour in 2025, but it hasn't said how much its per-kilowatt-hour costs are.

GM is also planning to offer vehicles with lithium-iron phosphate-based cells that are also lower cost than the nickel cells. Kelty said GM will release more information soon.

While GM aims to be the first automaker to commercially deploy LMR batteries in its electric vehicles, crosstown rival Ford Motor is also working on deploying the technology, according to a recent blog its director of electrified propulsion engineering wrote on LinkedIn.