GM bets on cheaper batteries to revive its EV comeback
GM is betting its Warren battery lab can slash EV costs by nearly 10%, cut $6,000 from packs, and keep Silverado EV range above 400 miles.
General Motors has turned a 500,000-square-foot building at its Warren Tech Center outside Detroit into the center of its EV comeback, tying much of its future to a new battery chemistry that it says could lower costs, preserve range and speed production to market.
The company’s $900 million push is designed to bring a new generation of lower-cost batteries to market about a year earlier than previously planned. At the heart of it is lithium-manganese-rich, or LMR, battery technology, which GM says is nearly as energy dense as its current high-end NMC chemistry but far cheaper to make. Kurt Kelty, GM’s vice president of battery and sustainability, called it the company’s “main product line,” a signal that GM is trying to recast its electric strategy around affordability rather than simply chasing incremental range gains.
That shift matters because GM’s EV business has been under pressure. The company took a $1.6 billion charge last year while reconfiguring production capacity and laying off thousands of workers, and it has delayed or paused some refreshes of full-size EV trucks and SUVs. The broader U.S. market has also cooled sharply: Cox Automotive said EV sales fell 27% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, with EVs accounting for 5.8% of total new-vehicle sales, down from a peak of 10.6% in the third quarter of 2025.
GM is trying to answer that slowdown with chemistry, not just assembly-line efficiency. In a May 13, 2025 announcement with LG Energy Solution, the automaker said it would commercialize LMR prismatic battery cells for future electric trucks and full-size SUVs, aiming to become the first automaker to deploy LMR batteries in EVs. GM said the cells deliver 33% higher energy density than the best-performing lithium iron phosphate cells at comparable cost, and that they use a higher share of cheaper manganese, reducing dependence on expensive cobalt. GM expects Ultium Cells to begin commercial U.S. production by 2028, with pre-production slated for late 2027.
The Warren Battery Cell Development Center will validate the final production design. GM has been building toward that moment for years: it said it began researching manganese-rich lithium-ion cells in 2015, and in 2021 it unveiled the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center on the same campus as part of more than $5 billion already invested in U.S. battery development. That earlier center was supposed to help GM reach at least 60% lower battery costs with the next generation of Ultium. GM also says its Estes Battery Systems Lab on the Warren campus spans more than 100,000 square feet and is the largest battery validation lab in North America.
Kelty, hired in February 2024 after 11 years leading Tesla’s battery development team, now oversees raw materials, research, technology investment, cell and pack commercialization, and end-of-life opportunities. For GM, the wager is stark: if this chemistry and manufacturing approach works, it could finally narrow the gap with EV leaders on cost, range and scale. If it falls short, the company’s comeback story will remain incomplete.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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