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Why GM Says Its Ultium Batteries Will Lead It To EV Dominance - YouTube
Channel: CNBC
[1]
This is the Ultium battery from
General Motors, the largest
[4]
American auto manufacturer is
going all in on EVs,
[9]
General Motors, we believe in an
all electric future. We're
[12]
working to a goal where we have
zero crashes, zero emissions and
[16]
zero congestion.
[17]
GM CEO Mary Barra believes the
company will dominate the US
[21]
market, we're going
[22]
to be number one mid decade in
EVs in the US.
[26]
And this is the battery
technology that is going to take
[29]
it there.
[30]
It starts with a single cell
that we can use as a brick that
[34]
we can build all these different
vehicles with. And that Altium
[37]
cell then will go into a Hummer,
a LYRIQ or any other vehicle
[42]
that we dream off in a very
quick fashion.
[44]
GM plans to invest $35 billion
in electric and autonomous
[49]
vehicles by 2025. It plans to
have manufacturing capacity for
[53]
1 million EVs and is scheduled
to launch more than 30 electric
[57]
vehicles globally over that same
time period. Many will utilize
[62]
the new platform,
[63]
the whole company, we intend to
have all light duty vehicles be
[66]
EVs by 2035.
[68]
GM is also building a commercial
Evie business under the bright
[72]
drop brand name. It has begun
delivering vehicles to FedEx and
[76]
has signed a contract with
Walmart. But it is hard to find
[79]
a carmaker of any significant
size that is not working on an
[83]
electric vehicle. And there are
countless startups all around
[86]
the world. So what makes GM's
Ultium platform technology
[90]
different.
[91]
We've got the right partners
with our three factories making
[94]
these cells with algae. And now
we're gonna make the world's
[97]
best Brekke to make the world's
best vehicles.
[99]
CNBC went inside GM's battery
lab to see how it is different
[104]
from what Tesla and other evey
battery makers are doing and how
[108]
GM plans to become a major
player in the Evie market.
[119]
What we have here is a lithium
ion battery. And this is our
[122]
large format lithium ion battery
that powers all these vehicles.
[126]
Tim grew is the general director
of electrification strategy and
[130]
cell engineering at General
Motors. GM unveiled its Ultium
[134]
platform in March of 2020. It is
a whole new architecture for
[139]
electric vehicles. It
encompasses new battery designs,
[142]
new motors, platforms, and even
new software for electric
[145]
vehicles.
[146]
We're at what we call the STS
Development Center, where
[149]
basically we bring all the
ingredients for Altium together
[152]
and we make sure that they work
properly together and as
[156]
individual components.
[158]
GM partnered with the battery
cell manufacturing giant LG
[161]
energy solutions to develop the
Ultium battery. The partnership
[165]
is opening three battery
factories across the United
[168]
States between 2022 and 2024,
one in Ohio, one in Tennessee
[173]
and one Michigan.
[174]
For the first time we've got a
single Altium cell that can be
[177]
the foundational brick to build
all of these vehicles together.
[181]
And with that we're scaling it.
[183]
GM has already teased unveiled
announced or begun producing
[187]
several fully electric vehicles
using the Ultium platform. The
[191]
GMC Hummer pickup and Hummer
SUV, the Cadillac Lyrik premium
[196]
SUV and Celestica sedan, the
Chevrolet Silverado Evie full
[201]
size pickup truck, the Chevrolet
blazer and a fully electric
[205]
version of the Corvette. Battery
technology is complex but a
[211]
battery generates electricity
through a chemical reaction. A
[215]
battery is made up of an anode,
a cathode, a mix of chemicals
[218]
that separates the anode and
cathode and an electrolyte. When
[222]
the battery is discharging, ie
generating electricity ions move
[226]
from the anode end to the
cathode end when charging ions
[230]
move in the opposite direction.
[232]
The positive in the negative
have these nice I call them
[234]
parking garages, right where you
can store the lithium when it's
[237]
all the way charged and they're
all parked in the negative side
[239]
we call it the anode. When they
discharged, they go and they
[242]
park in the positive side. And
then the separator basically
[246]
makes the traffic lane so that
all happens very uniformly and
[249]
can last the life of the
vehicle.
[251]
There are several things that
make the Altium platform
[253]
different. It is say some
industry analysts the first
[257]
large scale use of a new battery
chemistry. The new chemistry
[260]
considerably reduces the content
of some very expensive and tough
[264]
to source materials. Evie
batteries often use chemistries
[267]
that rely on cobalt, often in
combination with nickel
[271]
manganese are other elements.
Tesla, for example, has been
[274]
known to use a combination of
nickel cobalt and aluminum in
[277]
many of its cars. However, it
has recently been trying to move
[281]
toward cobalt free battery
designs. GM is partnership with
[284]
LG Energy Solutions has
developed a different chemistry
[287]
it reduces the cobalt by 70%.
This nickel manganese cobalt
[292]
aluminum is one of the primary
factors that will drive Ultium
[295]
battery pack costs below $100
per kilowatt hour that is a
[300]
threshold the entire industry is
trying to hit to make EVs cost
[303]
competitive with internal
combustion cars. GM has also
[309]
taken the unusual step of
developing a new battery
[311]
management system that manages
the battery at a more granular
[315]
level than others. Most battery
management systems including
[318]
Tesla's work at the pack level
GM's system manages the battery
[322]
at the level of individual
modules. This will allow GM to
[326]
replace parts of a battery pack
bit by bit over time if needed,
[330]
rather than replacing the whole
pack at once. It also means GM
[333]
doesn't need to stock old
battery parts. Newer battery
[336]
technology can be put into an
old team pack alongside older
[340]
technology and the pack will
still function.
[342]
Your cell phone has a pouch
battery in it, or your tablet
[346]
has a pouch battery in it, but
they're obviously not automotive
[349]
batteries. And so what we do
with our approach is we say
[352]
well, we make it more robust, we
add more installation, we make
[356]
sure it can last the life of the
vehicle in our pouches.
[359]
The idea of a pouch design is
not unique to GM. But GM says
[363]
there are aspects of its design
that are proprietary.
[366]
It's generic, but how we make it
is very unique.
[370]
Cells are tightly packed side by
side which reduces the space
[373]
between that allows for more
energy capacity. The design is
[377]
flexible and can accommodate
cells of other shapes. GM's
[381]
vehicles in China don't use the
long cell design seen in the US.
[385]
They instead use something
called a prismatic can a
[387]
shorter, wider box.
[389]
So this isn't an example of a
prismatic can. It's got the same
[393]
electrode in it as the actual
you know, flat stacked one here,
[397]
you simply wind it up inside of
it.
[400]
China is the world's largest
Evie market. GM sold 2.9 million
[405]
vehicles in China in 2021. Sales
of new plug in hybrids and
[409]
electrics collectively called
New Energy vehicles, or N EVs
[413]
and China rose considerably. Its
Buick VW elite and Evie family
[419]
doubled sales year over year.
[421]
Do you think I'll just China
alone 15 20% of the world's
[424]
market, they're going to be
almost entirely electric in the
[426]
next five years, or 2025 plan.
In China, GM sells more electric
[430]
cars and Tesla
[431]
cell modules can be stacked
vertically or horizontally as
[434]
the vehicle design requires.
They can be double stacked to
[438]
include up to 24 modules in a
truck, for example, or there
[442]
could just be one single layer
of modules in the sports car.
[446]
This is basically a LYRIQ pack
that you see right in front of
[449]
you. So it's got all this
structure integrated into it. So
[451]
that can be part of the vehicle
and there's 12 of those modules
[455]
in here to meet the LYRIQ's
needs. Now you can imagine if
[458]
you have an equinox, it'll be
less than 12 and it'll just be a
[461]
shorter pack.
[463]
And Ultium battery pack can
provide up to 450 miles of range
[467]
on a charge at a quarter of the
weight and about 40% of the cost
[470]
of GM's previous battery
designs. A vehicle with 450
[474]
miles on a single charge would
place among the longest range
[477]
vehicles available in the United
States. Only the Lucid Air dream
[481]
edition outpaces it with an
estimated 520 models. The Tesla
[485]
Model S has a 405 mile range
[488]
around 2008 We said people
really want an Eevee and we made
[492]
the volt extended range Evie
whereas a very capable 50 mile
[496]
Evie 2016 We came out with a
bowl TV which was a tuner in 38
[501]
mile Evie, the volt extended
range made it possible. The bowl
[506]
TV in 2016 made it practical,
you can use the car and now with
[510]
things like the Hummer and the
LYRIQ is preferred.
[513]
If GM's Ultium battery pack does
have a per kilowatt hour cost of
[517]
less than $100. That would put
it in territory competitors have
[520]
not been able to reach
[522]
that's still the target that
everybody's trying to get to is
[525]
under $100 per kilowatt hour.
Tesla's been under $100 a
[529]
kilowatt hour at the cell level
for a while now. Because they
[533]
use those cylindrical cells and
they're they're cheaper to make
[536]
but the way they make their pack
is more complex. So that offsets
[540]
some of that savings on the
sell.
[543]
These batteries will be powering
Ultium drive electric motors
[547]
which GM unveiled in September
2021. The first vehicle the
[551]
system will be featured on is
the GMC Hummer. General Motors
[557]
was the first automaker to make
a serious attempt at a mass
[561]
market EV its Evie one was only
available for lease in limited
[566]
numbers in the late 1990s. Its
first fully electric vehicle
[570]
after that was the Chevrolet
Bolt first introduced for the
[574]
2017 model year. But like all
automakers it has been largely
[579]
overshadowed and outsold in the
US Evie market by industry
[582]
leader Tesla with Ultium The
company is trying to take the
[586]
lead again.
[587]
They obviously don't get
anywhere remotely close to
[590]
anything in the same
stratosphere as Tesla in terms
[593]
of their business but they've
got to show that their Evie
[594]
business really works if they
haven't. Yet.
[597]
Some industry experts are
skeptical the GM's Ultium
[600]
technology is in any way ahead
of the curve. Monroe and
[604]
Associates is a manufacturing
consultancy that is known in the
[607]
auto industry for its tear downs
and analyses of electric
[610]
vehicles and battery packs.
[612]
We are tasked with investigating
every Eevee that is, that is
[618]
being manufactured that is
leading in the world.
[622]
Stupid, said Monroe and
Associates has not been able to
[624]
yet tear down and Altium based
vehicle, they are basing their
[627]
opinions on what GM is saying
about the Altium platform and
[631]
what the firm has found in its
other research and tear downs.
[634]
My broad impression of the
Ultium platform is it it's a
[637]
really good idea. But it's five
to seven years too late, many of
[641]
the virtues that they're
extolling in their marketing
[644]
campaigns, particularly with the
form factors of the cell, the
[648]
energy density, the reduction of
wiring, the layout and
[652]
configuration of the motors are
already being done. If you study
[656]
the market, we can draw
parallels in the battery to VW
[661]
84. I can't draw very many
parallels the Tesla because the
[665]
form factor in chemistry is
different.
[667]
Take battery chemistry, for
example. Well GM's battery
[671]
chemistry has reduced cobalt
content.
[673]
Eliminating cobalt altogether
from the battery portfolio is
[677]
something that many
manufacturers have done.
[680]
Tesla is using cobalt free
lithium ion phosphate cells in
[684]
its Chinese models. And
everything
[686]
that I read on GM strategy,
they're primarily sticking to
[689]
that I think nickel, manganese,
cobalt aluminum chemistry, which
[694]
does have some advantages, but
still having some cobalt, I want
[698]
to see elimination of cobalt in
some of their chemistry choices.
[702]
That said, there are some
features that are notable.
[705]
The fact that you know, they're
designing everything from
[708]
scratch, for this thing. You
know, it's all purpose built for
[712]
EVs is a good thing, it gives
them the opportunity to really
[715]
optimize all of the systems for
an Eevee that's probably, in
[720]
theory at least, should help
them.
[724]
GM says the next generation of
Ultium will offer twice the
[727]
energy density at 60% of the
cost.
[729]
We've made announcements about
our lithium metal technology,
[733]
which is much higher energy
density very capable to make it
[736]
happen. And that's the true
entrepreneur really going to
[739]
change the world type stuff.
[741]
As with many other battery
technologies, there are many
[744]
companies working on lithium
metal batteries, Ford, BMW,
[747]
Volkswagen and others are
investing in them. Perhaps the
[751]
true test of Ultium cells will
come once people start getting
[754]
behind the wheel.
[755]
I think the Cadillac LYRIQ is
really going to be our first
[758]
real look at what the true
possibilities are. With the
[762]
Ultium platform.
[763]
The Cadillac LYRIQ will be GM's
first crossover to market with
[766]
Altium cells and will come in a
size and shape that will more
[769]
closely resemble the crossovers
and SUVs customers are buying.
[773]
with a starting price of around
$60,000 The LYRIQ increases jams
[778]
chances of being profitable on
each vehicle. It also positions
[781]
GM to directly challenge leaders
like Tesla. Another top selling
[785]
segment where GM is securing a
toehold is the full size pickup
[789]
truck. This is the best selling
segment overall in America and
[792]
one dominated by American
manufacturers, especially Ford
[796]
and GM.
[797]
Ford and GM were both really
surprised by the demand when
[802]
they announced their electric
pickup trucks.
[805]
GM unveiled the Chevrolet
Silverado Evie at CES in January
[809]
2022. In late April, the company
said it already had over 140,000
[815]
reservations for the truck.
We're seeing
[818]
a real shift from the market
towards EVs, a lot of customer
[823]
pull for EVs. And that's caught
a lot of manufacturers by
[826]
surprise. And so they're
scrambling now to figure out how
[829]
do they get enough materials to
build all the batteries for what
[834]
they perceive is the demand for
these things. And this is this
[838]
is the next big challenge for
everybody.
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