General Motors announced a new joint venture with SolidEnergy Systems, a spinoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is focused on improving the energy density in lithium-ion batteries. The two companies plan on building a test facility in Woburn, Massachusetts, for a high-capacity preproduction battery by 2023.
“In the long run, what this is going to mean is more range and lower cost,” Kent Helfrich, executive director of GM’s global electrification and battery systems said. “And it’ll also mean most likely smaller batteries, so a lighter weight vehicle.”
The first vehicle to be built with an Ultium battery will be the forthcoming GMC Hummer EV, which the company says will have an estimated 350 miles of range. The Hummer is expected to go into production at the end of 2021.
Read the article at The Verge.