According to the company’s announcement on Wednesday, General Motors is funding a Silicon Valley startup to expedite the creation of a more cost-effective battery chemistry for its next electric vehicles.

A two-year-old Mountain View, California, firm called Mitra Chem utilises artificial intelligence to hasten the development of lithium-ion battery materials, and GM will lead a $60 million investment in it.

After 2025, some of General Motors’ Ultium batteries could use lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP), a cutting-edge iron-based cathode active material that Mitra Chem will assist the automaker in developing.

Alternatives to the nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) alloy used in many current EV battery cathodes include lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and LMFP with manganese added. However, batteries made of iron often don’t hold as much power.

Although LFP battery cells were created in the United States, Chinese firms like BYD and CATL presently control the majority of the world’s production.

Gil Golan, vice president of technology acceleration and commercialization at General Motors, described the new funding round for Mitra Chem as “a strategic investment that will further help reinforce GM’s efforts in EV batteries (and) accelerate our work on affordable battery chemistries like LMFP.”

According to Golan, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act “is one of the main drivers” in GM’s work to establish a U.S.-based supply chain for LFP batteries and next-generation materials alongside Mitra Chem and others.

The IRA offers incentives for North American-sourced battery materials, components, cells, and packs.

In the second half of the decade, according to Golan, some GM vehicles may be equipped with batteries manufactured from materials developed by Mitra Chem that are iron-rich. He said that GM already used LFP batteries in China for their electric cars.

Nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum cathode cells, which are more expensive than LFP cells but have a greater driving range than LFP cells, are now used in GM’s Ultium batteries.

In Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan, the automaker’s Ultium joint-venture battery operations with partner LG Chem will manufacture cells with NCMA cathodes, while a fourth U.S. factory with Samsung SDI (006400.KS) would build “nickel-rich” battery cells.

Battery specialists claim that the essential components of LFP and LMFP cathodes are often less volatile and comparatively more abundant than nickel and cobalt.

Vivas Kumar, chief executive officer, Will Chueh, chief scientific adviser, and Chirranjeevi Gopal, chief product officer, all participated in the founding of Mitra Chem.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

Categories: Creativity, Economy & Finance, Strategy, Sustainability, Uncategorized