The first NMC cells used almost equal third parties of nickel, manganese and cobalt. Ultium cells “high-nickel” current GM have exchanged a large part of this cobalt for nickel while adding aluminum. They use approximately 5% cobalt and 10% manganese, said the battery engineer GM Andy Oury, the rest being nickel and aluminum.
LMR cells, however, replace manganese – which is cheaper and more abundant worldwide – for some more expensive nickels and almost all cobalt. These are, said Ouy, 60 to 70% manganese, 30 to 40% nickel and only up to 2% cobalt.
The new chemistry, in a second type of cell, will also use a new module format. The standardized Ultium NMCA modules for each vehicle were the right solution for GM to launch its current range of 12 different EV models, its managers said. In the future, the company plans to use different chemies for different purposes: NMCA for high performance performance and its most capable models, now long -term LMR at lower cost, and LFP for its cheapest models.
Long -term Electric SUVs and electric trucks
If LMR chemistry really produces a cell that costs as little to make the LFP with greater energy density, this could change the situation, including for North American competitiveness against China in the critical sphere of development and production of batteries.
“LMR will complete our nickel and iron phosphate solutions to extend the choice of customers on the truck and full-size SUV markets,” said Kurt Kelty, vice-president of the battery, propulsion and sustainability of GM. He said, “will advance the innovation of the American battery and create jobs well in the future.”
More specifically, the LMR packs will reduce the cost of certain models of EV truck and full SUV to bring their prices closer to those of their petrol counterparts. This is crucial to increase sales of full -size EV models, which have not reached the same volumes and penetrations on the market as those of compact EV crossings and medium size of GM.
