Hidden among the architectural landmarks of General Motors\u2019 sprawling Warren Tech Center outside Detroit is a new cornerstone of the automaker\u2019s $900 million bet on its electric future.<\/p>\n
The nondescript 500,000-square-foot pair of off-white boxes, which houses GM\u2019s new Battery Cell Development Center, might not look like much. But locked inside is the key to GM\u2019s plan to slash the cost of its EVs by nearly 10%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At a time when some car companies are pulling back on EVs, GM\u2019s new Battery Cell Development Center is part of a reboot. And it\u2019s one that GM told TechCrunch will allow it to bring a new slate of lower cost batteries to market a year faster than planned.<\/p>\n GM hasn\u2019t been immune to the malaise in the U.S. EV market. Last year, the automaker took a $1.6 billion charge<\/a> as it reconfigured its EV production capacity, laying off thousands of workers<\/a> in the process. It has also reportedly shelved<\/a>, if temporarily, a refresh of its full-size EV trucks and SUVs.<\/p>\n To get its EV strategy back on track, Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery and sustainability at GM, is pinning the company\u2019s success on a new battery chemistry known as LMR. Kelty, who previously led battery technology at Tesla, has made it his signature product in the two years he\u2019s been with the company.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is really going to be our bread and butter,\u201d Kelty told TechCrunch. \u201cThat is going to be our main product line.\u201d<\/p>\n GM\u2019s halting rollout of EVs has mirrored the wider battery industry in the U.S., which over the last couple of decades has developed in fits and starts. Early startups haven\u2019t lived up to their promise, and more recently, intense competition from Chinese companies has pushed automakers and battery manufacturers to rethink the plans they made five years ago.<\/p>\n At GM, that pressure led to the shortened life of Ultium, the branded battery platform that underpins its current EVs. Like much of the industry, the automaker had bet heavily on a pricey yet powerful battery chemistry known as NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt). Rising materials costs and China\u2019s dominance of key critical minerals have kept EV prices higher than expected. NMC won\u2019t disappear, but at GM, it\u2019ll be restricted to GM\u2019s high-end vehicles.<\/p>\n In its place, GM has been developing LMR (lithium-manganese-rich), which it says is almost as energy dense as NMC but at a cost that\u2019s comparable to cheaper chemistries like LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) that power low-end models like the Chevrolet Bolt.<\/p>\n When GM introduced LMR last year<\/a>, it said that, in a truck like the Chevrolet Silverado EV, the new chemistry should preserve most of the vehicle\u2019s 400-plus mile range while slashing costs by at least $6,000. For a mid-range model, that would bring it within spitting distance of the gas version.<\/p>\n Discovering a new battery chemistry is one thing. Manufacturing gigawatt-hours worth of it is another, especially at the pace the EV industry is moving. Facing pressure from automotive giants like BYD and battery titans like CATL, GM says it wants to get LMR vehicles on the road by 2028. GM needs the new Battery Cell Development Center to deliver if it wants to hit that deadline.<\/p>\n The new building serves as the keystone of GM\u2019s battery strategy. The company opened its Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center and its first gigafactory in 2022. What was missing was a way to connect the breakthroughs that emerged from Wallace to the factory floors in Tennessee and Ohio.<\/p>\n The BCDC, as insiders call the facility, is something like a pilot line, but bigger. When fully operational, it will be capable of producing about 2,500 cells per day, or about half a gigawatt-hour per year. It will take batteries developed in small batches \u2014 about 30 to 50 per day \u2014 at the Wallace Battery Cell Research Center next door and determine if they\u2019re ready for production.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many recipes for new batteries fail to deliver when they\u2019re spun up to commercial scale, and companies don\u2019t have years to work out the kinks. If a new chemistry can\u2019t hit 85% yield within 18 months on a production line, it shouldn\u2019t be considered commercially viable, according to a McKinsey report<\/a>.<\/p>\n The challenges are similar to using a recipe intended for a family of four and scaling it up to a wedding reception with 400 guests. It\u2019s not just the sheer throughput of the factory, either. Batteries that emerge from the research center are small coin cells, but the cells in an EV pack look more like a small cutting board.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you learn how to make the recipe in Wallace, then you\u2019ve got to figure out, well, how do you make this in high volume?\u201d Kelty said. \u201cYou really learn a lot going from that coin cell to the large format because it doesn\u2019t transfer perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n The BCDC is intended to make that step less painful.\u00a0<\/p>\n A test run at the facility costs about $200,000, which is far less than at the full-size Ultium plant. When the BCDC team is confident it has the process nailed down, the transition to full production should be easier, Kelty said. \u201cThe equipment is almost the same between them, and so it shouldn\u2019t be as hard of a handoff.\u201d<\/p>\n The BCDC is one or two orders of magnitude smaller than the 2.8 million-square-foot Ultium battery factory in Tennessee. The Ultium plant makes about 300,000 cells per year, or 45 gigawatt-hours worth. The BCDC has fewer production lines, makes about a hundredth the number of cells, and its mixing tanks, where battery materials are blended, hold 40 liters instead of 2,000. Though smaller, the BCDC is still an order of magnitude larger than the Wallace Center next door.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe BCDC is intended to bridge the gap,\u201d Mo Gallegos, head of BCDC at GM, told TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n To cut costs further, GM has been working to simulate as many processes as possible using a variety of AI models. The company has invested heavily in computing power, and while no one would put a number on it, I\u2019m told it\u2019s \u201cnational lab-scale.\u201d<\/p>\n The automaker has developed physics-based models to simulate how changes to a chemistry or production process will affect the performance of a battery cell.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOn LMR, we\u2019ve logged over 150 million CPU hours,\u201d Radu Theyyunni, director of global virtual electrification and powertrain at GM, told TechCrunch. \u201cMost engine programs do not use that many core hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a digital twin of the entire BCDC, including equipment control boards, wiring, and even the blades in the mixing tanks. Before I set foot in the BCDC, the team had me don a VR headset and walked me through the digital twin, where I was able to follow the production line from start to finish.<\/p>\n As the BCDC has taken shape, the digital twin has been used for a range of tasks. In one instance, the team used it to determine if the plans left enough clearance around equipment for regular operations and repairs. In another, they simulated the equipments\u2019 control systems to ensure everything would behave as intended.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDoes the equipment run how it\u2019s supposed to? Does it run safely? Is it doing all the things we think this control system is going to do? That shortens our debug and ramp up time,\u201d Gallegos said. Altogether, GM says the simulations have saved it millions of dollars.<\/p>\n GM needs all the speed it can get.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the EV market in the U.S. has softened recently, globally, it grew 20% last year. The looming specter of high oil prices coupled with declining battery costs suggests the transition away from fossil fuels will happen eventually, if not sooner.\u00a0<\/p>\n If LMR is ready in time, it could help GM offer cost competitive EVs with enough range to placate anxious Americans. But first LMR needs to pass through the BCDC. Gallegos expects the first batches to roll off the line later this year.<\/p>\n In the coming decade, battery development will be as important to automakers as engine development was over the last century. GM\u2019s EV future hinges on its ability to shepherd new chemistries from R&D through to production.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kelty is fond of saying that GM is developing \u201cthe right battery for the right application,\u201d perhaps echoing an old company slogan<\/a>, \u201ca car for every purse and purpose.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n LMR might be the BCDC\u2019s first test, but it\u2019s unlikely to be its last.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\nBattery reboot<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gm-battery-prototype.jpeg?w=680\")
Mastering the battery recipe<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Turning to AI models<\/strong><\/h2>\n