What Are Ultium Batteries?
Nov 22, 2022 7:01 am
What Are Ultium Batteries?
2 min read
At the beginning of 2022, GM partnered with LG to develop Ultium batteries. The two companies plan to build 3 Ultium production factories in the US.
Ultium is a battery platform with a battery chemistry that reduces the use of cobalt by 70%. This should reduce the cost of EVs and make them cost competitive with internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. It also has a battery management system that manages the battery at a more granular level, rather than a pack level, allowing bits of the battery to be replaced overtime rather than replacing the whole pack. This means that newer battery parts can be mixed with older battery technology and the battery will still operate. This will make maintenance cheaper and allow older vehicles to receive newer technology without having to replace many parts.
The Ultium platform reduces the space between cells, which increases capacity. The design is flexible and can be altered (battery cells stacked vertically or horizontally, and single or double stacked) to fit vehicles of different shapes, sizes and battery capacities.
According to GM, the Ultium battery gets 724,21 kilometres of range for a quarter of the weight and 40% of the price of their previous battery technologies. The GMC Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq are the first vehicles expected to feature the Ultium battery. Both vehicles are currently in mass production with the Lyriq expected to be delivered in 2023 and Hummer deliveries currently ongoing. Experts say that the real test of the Ultium battery will come from its practical use in these vehicles.
What do you think about GM’s Ultium battery? Do you think it has come too late? Do you think this is ground-breaking innovation or false hype? Share your thoughts by replying to this email!
For more information on Ultium batteries or any other energy related articles, view the blog posts on my website and be sure to open my weekly emails every Tuesday at 9am CAT.
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