GM’s Ultium battery gets the ultimatum

GM will discontinue the Ultium battery brand name as it looks to expand the types of cells and chemistries it uses in its electric vehicles.

During an investor event today, Kurt Kelty, GM's VP of batteries and a former Tesla executive, announced plans to adopt lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology in order to decrease the cost of its EVs by "up to $6,000." GM's Ultium batteries use the more common nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) batteries.

Some automakers are using LFP-based cells already, including Tesla and Ford. There's less complexity in LFP, they cost less to produce, and they aren't dependent on the excessive cobalt used in NCM batteries. Cobalt has a bad rep as the "blood diamond of batteries," and many automakers are trying to avoid it in the long term.

GM launched its Ultium batteries in 2020 as the platform that would eventually underpin the automaker's slate of EVs, including the Chevy Equinox and Blazer EVs, the Cadillac Lyriq, the Hummer EV, and partner vehicles like Honda's Prologue SUV. But "Ultium" never quite became a household name, and now GM is moving away from the brand as well as its "one size fits all" approach to its battery system.

Kelty says GM will open a battery cell development center in 2027 at its tech center in Warren, Michigan, to better compete with Chinese battery manufacturers, which dominate the global supply chain. He said that GM is set to "meet production demand into 2025" and that battery manufacturing problems faced at the end of 2023 "are behind us."

GM will continue to work with partner LG on batteries as well as Samsung SDI to build a new $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Indiana.

GM reduced its battery costs to $60 per kilowatt hour on average from 2023 to 2024 and is expecting another $30 reduction in 2025 with LFP, Kelty said. The automaker could also pack LFP batteries into its large EV chassis that typically houses Ultium NCM pouch-style batteries and still achieve "over 350 miles" of range, he noted.

GM is also reducing the number of modules in its pack by up to 75 percent by using new prismatic cells, while higher-end cylindrical cells will be relegated to "performance" vehicles, Kelty said.

Historically, GM is known for having larger and more dense EV batteries than its competitors. Now, it's following in the footsteps of Ford, which insists that a 200-300 mile range is more than adequate for most owners.