General Motors is remaining bullish on its electrification efforts despite weakening electric vehicle demand, but the automaker is rebranding its Ultium battery cell technology. Two GM-LG Energy Solution joint-venture plants manufacturing the lithium-ion battery packs that are assembled into fuel cells for EVs will continue to operate as Ultium Cells LLC.
Reportedly, GM is reevaluating its strategies surrounding batteries, including a $3-billion investment in an alternative EV battery technology via a partnership with Samsung SDI.
“As GM continues to expand its EV business, the company is no longer branding its electric vehicle architecture, battery and cells, or EV components with the Ultium name, starting in North America,” the automaker stated.
The announcement coincided with an “investor day” event GM staged, where it offered some outlook on EVs in its financial picture. CEO Mary Barra told the audience that GM will produce 200,000 EVs in North America this year, and arrive at some modest profitability on EV sales during Q4.
Even so, GM’s internal-combustion engine offerings are the basis for its current profitability, and like Ford and Stellantis GM is signaling to buyers that those models will continue to be available. And the anticipated transition away from ICE models will include more hybrid vehicle options,
The automaker has not indicated the new brand name for the battery technology, but it emphasized that the technology and the battery systems are not under review. The Ultium platform is in place for all of GM’s current electric vehicles, and it’s also supplied to Honda for some of its U.S. EV offerings.
GM also did not indicate any change affecting its partnership with LG Energy Solution. There are joint-venture Ultium Cells plants operating at Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tenn. Construction has been delayed on a third Ultium plant in Lansing, Mich.
Ultium is a low-cost battery technology that GM unveiled in 2020, based on a fuel-cell design that allows higher energy density and uses less non-active material, meaning there is more room for the part of the battery that produces energy.
The automaker also announced it plans to build a battery cell development center in Warren, at the GM Global Technical Center. That project has not been fully detailed, but it’s reported that it will be producing battery cells by 2027.
