General Motors

Over the course of the 100+ year history of the automotive industry, ground transportation vehicles were largely powered through the combustion of gasoline in internal combustion engines. The advent of the automotive industry liberated people from the horse and buggy and fostered the growth of urban populations. However, humanity now finds itself facing one of its most significant threats: anthropogenic climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the U.S. EPA, 4.6 metric tons of CO2 are emitted from the tailpipe of a “typical passenger vehicle” in a single year, along with smaller amounts of CH4 and N2O.

General Motors is working to help achieve a “zero emissions” future with fully electric vehicles. The IC engine, gas tank, transmission and exhaust, the main components of IC propulsion systems, are now being replaced with power electronics, motors and batteries which produce no tailpipe emissions. As we at GM continue to build a lineup of fully electric vehicles, it’s essential that we grow and apply our scientific expertise in advanced materials to batteries on our journey to a zero emissions future.

The ubiquitous lithium-ion battery is based on a graphite anode, which is the mainstay material in our batteries. This graphitic anode material is essentially stacked layers of graphene. An alternative to graphite is a so-called “blended” anode, where graphite is combined with small quantities of silicon oxide.

Alternatively, positive electrode materials for our cathodes consist of transition metals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese as well as aluminum. Common cathode materials are designated as NCM and NCMA (N=nickel, C=cobalt, M=manganese, A=aluminum). These materials are typically synthesized in powder form and then applied as “slurries” onto metallic current collectors during battery cell manufacturing. Because of their “open” crystal structures, Li-ions can easily move in and out of the anode and cathode materials as part of a sequence of electrochemical reactions that enable the cell to power a vehicle.

It’s amazing to think that today’s Ultium-based EVs, such as the GMC HUMMER EV and Cadillac LYRIQ, are powered by something so small. While our current Ultium propulsion technology can power an entire portfolio of EVs, we’re not stopping there.

We continue to develop future battery chemistries that could improve the performance of EV batteries. New advanced materials will be critical to the implementation of batteries based upon Li-metal, Li-S, Na-ion and all solid-state. Alternatively, anode materials resulting from modifications to graphite beyond blending also fall under the heading of advanced materials. These new battery chemistries hold significant promise for increased energy density and range relative to the Li-ion battery while continuing to prioritize safety.

My team of about 70 electrochemists, materials scientists, physicists, chemical and mechanical engineers in GM’s Research and Development labs in Warren, Michigan are hot on the trail of new advanced materials that hold great promise for future GM EVs. My team experiments with different types of advanced materials every day.

Our experimental capabilities are world-class. For example, we can perform forensics on different cells using state-of-the-art analytical tools. This lets us analyze small, subtle changes within the structure of a cell without having to take the cell apart, allowing us to continue experiments without disruption.

We are also applying state-of-the-art computational tools that enable us to characterize battery materials (e.g., magnetic metals or semiconductors). We can now manipulate the atomic structures of battery anode and cathode materials with computer algorithms that can suggest new advanced materials for experimental synthesis and characterization.

My experimental and modeling teams are seamlessly integrated, and this is part of the secret to our success. Everything that my team does is motivated by our end goal: producing batteries that provide great value for our customers, meet our vehicle requirements and help promote sustainability goals in the mobility industry.

In addition to studying existing and future battery cell chemistries, we also search for ways to more effectively commercialize them. Within our R&D labs, we can even produce prototype battery cells, albeit at the small rate of less than 10 meters per minute (compared to more than 50 meters per minute for a commercial cell operation). This fusion of our nanomaterial knowledge and the cell-making capabilities of our joint venture partner, LG Energy Solution, will lead to even better results in the future as we scale this technology.

"General Motors is working to help achieve a “zero emissions” future with fully electric vehicles." 

The experience that we gain every day in both our R&D labs and production facilities is supplemented by knowledge we leverage from the external technical community through venture capital investments. Examples of GM Ventures’ portfolio companies that specialize in nanomaterials include Mitra Chem, which is expected to help us accelerate the work we’re already doing on next-generation, iron-based cathodes for more affordable EVs through their AI-based platform and labs. GM and OneD Battery Sciences also executed a joint research development agreement focusing on the potential application of OneD’s SINANODE technology, which adds more silicon to the anode battery cells by fusing silicon nanowires into EV-grade graphite.

The EV space, in general is still very much an emerging field, and to stay at the forefront of this dynamic space, we apply the might of our corporate and leveraged resources every day to the out-of-the-box thinking needed for future GM EVs. A testament to this is GM R&D’s 2,000-plus electrification-related patents.

Our inventive capabilities, combined with 116 years of manufacturing know-how and demonstrated experience in scaling technology, give me confidence that we’re on the right track.