General Motors will build a 300,000 square foot battery research center in Michigan. This facility will help it achieve its goal of creating longer-lasting, faster-charging, and more sustainable electric vehicle batteries. GM's new center will allow it to make breakthroughs in electric vehicle technology. It can now charge a single battery for 600 miles, which is roughly double the range of other EVs.
After Bill Wallace, a former GM battery engineer who died in 2018, the new center will be called the Wallace Battery Innovation Center. The new center will be situated in Warren, Michigan near the 710-acre Technical Center of GM in Southeast Michigan. GM would not disclose the number or cost of the center's labs nor the number of engineers it will need to fill them, but it expects it would be in the hundreds to millions of dollars.
Large format prototype cells up to one meter in width or more
Ken Morris, vice-president for electric and autonomous cars at GM, stated that the innovation center will be the first in North America to use large format prototype cells up to a meter across.
Morris stated that the goal is to create batteries with an energy density up to 1,200 watts per liter. This is a remarkable number that experts have challenged. This means you can drive a vehicle as far as 600 miles on one charge, which is a new reality for customers.
This would go beyond the advertised range for the Ultium battery architecture. GM stated that its Ultium batteries would be large-format pouch-style cells instead of the cylindrical cells used by Tesla and other companies. They can be placed vertically or horizontally within the battery pack as the automaker chooses.
We really believe we can create a better package with these low-cost, high-energy vehicles.
The Hummer EV pickup truck will be the first to feature the first generation of Ultium battery technology. Production is expected to begin next year. To develop future versions of the current lithium-ion composition, the Wallace Center has been established.
Morris stated that the Wallace Center will be a hub for research engineers, development engineers, and manufacturing engineers. This will allow them to accelerate the next generation. Technology such as pure silicon anodes or lithium metal, and even solid-state battery technology.
Although the innovation center will not be a manufacturing facility for batteries, GM has built two with partner LG Chem. However, it will be used to test different production methods and set up pilot lines. Another project will involve intellectual property developed in a joint venture by GM and SolidEnergy Systems. This spinoff of Massachusetts Institute of Technology is focused on increasing the energy density of lithium-ion battery.
GM's success as the largest North American automaker was due to its use of combustion engines. It needs to increase production of electric cars to be carbon neutral by 2040. This will allow it to achieve its goal of halting sales of gasoline and light-duty diesel vehicles by 2035. GM's future is at stake if there is a sufficient supply of batteries. The company already committed to spending $27 billion to develop and produce 30 new electric cars by 2025. It even changed its logo to look more like an electric plug.
