General Motors is considering adding different battery chemistries and form factors that move beyond its plans with LG Energy as the automaker launches a line of affordable electric vehicles, analysts said.
GM has announced three U.S. battery plants with LG Energy under its joint venture, Ultium Cells. The companies have said for months that they would add a fourth U.S. plant but have not reached an agreement.
The automaker plans to offer a line of EVs priced below $30,000. But that would force it to move away from the high-cost lithium nickel cobalt manganese chemistry, or NCM, used in the Ultium design. A different chemistry, such as the less-expensive lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, would get GM closer to its price target but could require an additional battery partner, analysts said.
“If you’re going to build a low-cost EV, I don’t see how you can do it with an NCM battery,” said Conrad Layson, senior alternative propulsion analyst at AutoForecast Solutions. “I think you have to use an LFP. That means shorter range, less performance than many drivers anticipate.”
GM spokesperson Phil Lienert declined to discuss future technology plans, but touted the flexibility of the Ultium platform. It can accommodate “a range of cell form factors and battery chemistries,” he said.
The platform is chemistry-agnostic and can take pouch, cylindrical or prismatic cells, GM CEO Mary Barra told analysts last month.
“We’re looking really at performance,” she said. “With the way that you configure the packs within Ultium, the difference of the cells [has to do] with performance and how do we get the max benefit.”
Discussions about a fourth Ultium plant are ongoing, LG Energy said in a statement to Automotive News.
