General Motors hasn’t even launched the 2022 GMC Hummer EV full-size electric pickup truck, but the automaker is already working on next-generation batteries to give its electric vehicles more range in the future.
The potential breakthroughs mean an EV could be a customer’s primary vehicle in terms of range and cost, Mark Reuss, GM’s president, said.
The Hummer will be the first GM product to use the Ultium battery platform, and it will get about 350 miles of range on a full charge. But GM now says it can get about 450 miles of range for some vehicles from its Ultium batteries. The 2023 Cadillac Lyriq midsize SUV is the second vehicle due to utilize the Ultium system and is expected to get more miles per charge than the Hummer, the Lyriq being a much smaller and lighter vehicle.
Ultium—developed by GM with LG Chem—is a technical leap forward from the tech used in the 2021 Chevrolet Bolt and the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV, which are the last vehicles to use GM’s older electric platform and battery system.
To take the next leap, GM is partnering with SolidEnergy Systems to jointly develop lithium-metal batteries that will power future models. Reuss announced the new joint venture at a Washington Post virtual conference. SES is a leader in lithium-metal technology and battery management software that uses artificial intelligence. GM Ventures invested in the work SES does in 2015 and this latest announcement is a further ramp-up of the companies’ working relationship.
The new batteries, technically not solid-state because SolidEnergy uses liquid electrolytes, will have twice the energy density and reduce cost by 60 percent, Reuss said. Vehicles could travel 500-600 miles on a single charge.
The two companies will also build a test manufacturing facility in Woburn, Massachusetts, to make prototypes of a lithium-metal battery by 2023.
Source-MotorTrend
