General Motors has new high-tech batteries for all its upcoming electric vehicles from next year, starting with the Cadillac Lyric. The Ultium battery, featuring Ultima battery technology, is powerful enough to compete with the ones found in Tesla’s cars. The biggest cell has a capacity of 200 kWh, which gives the vehicle a range of up to 400 miles. They will be manufactured as part of a joint venture with the battery company LG Chem.
The battery system is modular, which allows for different types of chemistries and cells to be used in packs. It also provides flexibility in size –so the packs can range from 50 to 200 kWh.
The Ultium batteries will be much cheaper because they use 70% less cobalt, bringing down costs to roughly $100 per kWh. In comparison, the most inexpensive batteries on the market today are around $120. That means electric vehicles with an Ultium battery come close to reaching price parity with petrol cars.
Another great thing about GM’s Ultium technology is that it’s an almost entirely wireless battery management system (wBMS). The company explains:
“General Motors will be the first automaker to use an almost completely wireless battery management system, or wBMS, for production electric vehicles. This wireless system, developed with Analog Devices, Inc., will be a primary driver of GM’s ability to ultimately power many different types of electric vehicles from a common set of battery components.”
The wireless system, developed in collaboration with Analog Devices Inc., contributes to how GM will be able to use similar battery components for a wide range of EV types – from utility vans to performance vehicles.
It will also enable a more straightforward upgrade of battery cells. The company explains:
“The wBMS is expected to drive GM’s Ultium-powered EVs to market faster, as time won’t be needed to develop specific communications systems or redesign complex wiring schemes for each new vehicle. Instead, the wBMS helps to ensure the scalability of Ultium batteries across GM’s future lineup, encompassing different brands and vehicle segments, from heavy-duty trucks to performance vehicles.”
The wBMS technology reduces wires within the batteries by as much as 90%, which helps extend the charging range because it allows extra room for more batteries or makes the vehicle lighter.
Kent Helfrich, GM executive director of Global Electrification and Battery Systems, commented on the new technology:
“Scalability and complexity reduction are a theme with our Ultium batteries – the wireless battery management system is the critical enabler of this amazing flexibility. The wireless system represents the epitome of Ultium’s configurability and should help GM build profitable EVs at scale.”
The company anticipates its global EV sales will exceed 1 million per year by mid-decade.
