General Motors Co. (GM) has recently unveiled the company’s strategy for its electric vehicle (EV) line. The focus will be to grow the EV sales “quickly, efficiently, and profitably,” and move towards an all-electric future. GM introduced an EV strategy that includes a new modular propulsion system, and a global EV platform to be powered by Ultium batteries. GM chairman and CEO, Mary Barra introduced the exciting new technology at the press release:
Our team accepted the challenge to transform product development at GM and position our company for an all-electric future. What we have done is build a multi-brand, multi-segment EV strategy with economies of scale that rival our full-size truck business with much less complexity and even more flexibility.
GM’s director of advanced vehicle design, Adam Kwiatkowski, also left a comment: “The crown jewel of the Ultium system is the battery cell itself.”
Ultium Battery Highlights
- GM said their new partnership with LG Chem will help lower the costs below $100/kWh. Together they envision new technological and manufacturing breakthroughs, including a new nickel-manganese-cobalt-aluminum (NCMA) mix that reduces the amount of cobalt by 70%.
- GM’s new pouch style Ultium batteries allow for vertical or horizontal stacking inside the battery pack, which allows the engineers to utilize the normally wasted space, optimizing storage.
- Ultium-powered EVs will incorporate both Level 2 and DC fast charging. 400-volt battery packs will come standard on most vehicles, with up to 200 kW fast-charging capabilities. The GM truck platforms will host an 800-volt battery pack with 350 kW fast-charging.
Andy Oury, a lead engineer for batteries, talked about this new cell that has up to 60% more energy capacity:
Our strategy is to move forward with the fewest number of the largest cells possible. It’s the equivalent of more than 20 small cylindrical cans that some of our competitors use. There are about 20 layers in our cell. So each layer is the equivalent of about one small cylindrical can cell. We think it’s really smart to take all of those layers, and put them inside a single pouch that’s a simple, low-cost, lightweight cell solution.
The energy propulsion system will range from 50-200 kWh, which the company estimates will have a range up to 400 miles and go 0-60 in around 3 seconds. This system is designed to work on all in-house designed motors; including front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and performance all-wheel-drive vehicles.
With this all-new global platform, GM will be looking to have the flexibility of using this technology on a wide range of vehicles, from crossovers and SUVs, to cars and commercial vehicles. These same batteries and propulsion systems can be used on affordable economy vehicles all the way through to high-end luxury vehicles.
GM said that by designing the vehicle and propulsion systems together it reduces the system’s complexity. Where internal combustion engines have up to 550 combustion powertrain combinations, the new EV propulsion system will use only 19 different battery and drive unit configurations.
Looking ahead, the company said their vertical integration of battery cells will be made available to other manufacturers by licensing of the technology. GM is banking on the fact that more people will be looking to buy EVs, with third-party forecasts for EV vehicle owners expected to more than double from 2025 to 2030.
