GM, VW and ProLogium Move on Batteries as Stellantis Halts French Plants

General Motors confirmed on 29 September that its Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee will be upgraded to produce lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) battery cells, according to a CleanTechnica report on the announcement. The company says it will take the output for its forthcoming EVs, and that combined LFP and LMR investments will reach $2 billion by 2030.

It is the clearest signal yet that GM expects the US electric vehicle market to recover, even after it pulled back on EV plans last year when Congress eliminated the $7,500 federal tax credit. GM's vice president of battery and sustainability, Kurt Kelty, said high-nickel batteries remain on the roster for markets where long range is the priority, while LMR is aimed at affordability.

The LMR formula uses manganese, which is Earth-abundant and cheaper than other battery materials. CleanTechnica notes that Ford is also spending on the chemistry, and that short lifespan and voltage decay have been the historic problems. InsideEVs reported that GM has now confirmed the factory where it will mass-produce the cells. On the same day, Volkswagen Group, its battery subsidiary PowerCo SE and China's Gotion High-tech signed an agreement to industrialise lithium-iron-phosphate production across Europe and North Africa, according to EVSpecifications.

Volkswagen will make LFP batteries for mass-market EVs through joint ventures with Gotion, InsideEVs reported. Morocco is the site of a joint Gotion-PowerCo venture in the battery sector, according to Italpress. The two announcements pull in opposite directions on chemistry but the same direction on cost. LFP avoids nickel and cobalt in the cathode and is often associated with long cycle life and lower material costs, though it stores less energy per unit of weight than nickel-rich options, according to Drive Smart Tools. LMR sits between the two: cheaper than high-nickel, better performing than the cheapest alternatives, in GM's framing.

ProLogium cells, Stellantis stoppages

Mercedes-Benz and Taiwan's ProLogium signed a joint testing agreement giving the German automaker priority access to ProLogium's Gen4 solid-state cells, according to EVSpecifications, deepening a partnership that has run for nearly a decade. EVMagz reported that a Mercedes-backed company, ProLogium, has put solid-state batteries into mass production. Not everyone is expanding. Stellantis will temporarily halt production at French factories because of a long-range EV battery shortage, EVMagz reported.

Automotive News put the same story on 29 September, and Yahoo Finance UK carried it the same day. The cause is a shortage of long-range cells, not a demand collapse, which makes it a supply-chain story rather than a sales story.

Lithium prices fell 25% in China on fears over battery demand growth, The Straits Times reported on 30 September. That sits awkwardly next to the LFP and LMR push: if cheaper chemistries scale, demand for refined lithium per vehicle can fall even as pack volumes rise.

"By producing multiple chemistries, including high-nickel, lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and now LMR, in both pouch and prismatic form factors, Ultium Cells demonstrates its ability to adapt quickly as battery technologies evolve," GM said, according to CleanTechnica.

Away from cars, the BBC reported on 29 September that San Diego-based Unigrid is selling a nine kilowatt hour sodium-ion home battery and has shipped its first 100 units, expecting 1,000 before the end of the year. Sodium-ion could be cheaper and less fire-prone than lithium-ion, and works down to minus 40C, but China leads manufacturing and there is a fight over cathode design.

Unigrid's battery contains chromium-3 in its cathode. Prof Dame Clare Grey at the University of Cambridge, co-founder of battery firm Nyobolt, told the BBC that under certain conditions chromium-3 may form chromium-6, a toxic, cancer-causing material. Ivana Hasa at the University of Warwick said formation is possible at very high states of charge but can be mitigated by voltage control, and called safety tests on the cell chemistry very promising. Unigrid chief executive Darren Tan told the BBC that toxicity concerns are "overblown" and that third-party tests could not produce chromium-6.

Meanwhile Toyota dropped a 1,675 lb (760 kg) caravan 30 feet onto the roof of its electric Hilux at Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk, and the pickup drove off, Electrek reported on 30 September. The Hilux BEV has a 59.2 kWh battery, 278 hp and a WLTP range of up to 160 miles. It costs from £42,170 in the UK, before VAT.

The through-line is that chemistry is now a cost decision as much as an engineering one. GM is betting on manganese, Volkswagen on iron and phosphate, Mercedes on solid state, and Unigrid on sodium. Stellantis is the reminder that whichever chemistry wins, somebody still has to build the cells on time.