General Motors is teaming up with LG to develop lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries for its electric trucks and SUVs. The automaker says that the new chemistry is safer, more energy dense, and less costly than the current technology.
GM aims to become the first automaker to deploy LMR batteries in EVs, with plans to start commercial production in the US by 2028. Last month, Ford announced that it would start adopting LMR batteries for its EVs, but not until 2030.
In EV batteries, the cathode, or negative electrode, are typically made with NCM — nickel, cobalt, and magnesium. Cobalt is a key component in this mix, but it’s also the most expensive material in the battery and mined under conditions that often violate human rights, leading it to be called the “blood diamond of batteries.” As a result, GM and other companies like Tesla are rushing to create a cobalt-free battery. As an alternative, LMR battery cells use a higher proportion of more affordable and plentiful manganese, while also delivering greater capacity and energy density.
GM has prototyped approximately 300 full-size LMR cells as it worked with LG Energy Solution to crack the code on the chemistry.
“We like to joke that it’s as cheap as dirt,” says Andrew Oury, a battery engineer at GM, referring to manganese.
GM’s current crop of electric Chevys and Cadillacs use high-nickel batteries, which supply enough energy for around 300–320 miles of range. The new LMR batteries are denser, with greater space efficiency due to their prismatic shape, enabling up to 400 miles of range, GM says. Prismatic cells are packed flat in rigid cases and are generally thought to be less complex to manufacture than cylindrical cells.
Less complexity and cheaper materials will hopefully lead to lower-cost EVs, which has been a significant challenge for the auto industry’s shift to electric vehicles.
“The EV growth rate is really dependent on how quickly we can bring the costs down over time,” says GM’s VP for batteries Kurt Kelty. “And this is the biggest lever we have. Batteries make up roughly 30 to 40 percent of the cost of vehicles. And if you can drop that down significantly like we’re doing here, then it ends up being a lower cost to the consumer.”
The cells will be produced by Ultium Cells, GM and LG’s joint venture, with preproduction expected to begin in late 2027. The final design will be validated at GM’s Battery Cell Development Center in Warren, Michigan, which opens earlier that year, as well as LG Energy Solution’s facility. Last year, GM sold its stake in the Lansing-based EV battery factory to LG.
“We like to joke that it’s as cheap as dirt.”
GM says the LMR batteries are the result of “decades-long research and investment in technology” that will give it the leg up over its competitors. GM began researching manganese-rich lithium-ion battery cells in 2015, including prototyping LMR cells at its Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center.
There could be some challenges to mass producing LMR batteries. LMR materials have been known to experience significant capacity loss, which could lead to lower driving ranges and thermal stability degradation.
GM says it is aware of these challenges and confident that it could innovate the production process in a way to minimize those risks. The automaker’s engineers say the LMR batteries were expected to perform similarly to GM’s first-generation high-nickel batteries, even in extreme temperatures.
Automakers are racing to slash EV costs before President Donald Trump’s trade war raises the prices for key materials imported from China, which is the world’s leading producer of EV batteries, with over 70 percent of global lithium-ion battery production taking place there.
“We expect our localization of materials for the battery supply chain to increase between now and 2028,” Kelty says. “And LMR is part of that story, because we get more of the materials locally.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
