General Motors announced its all-new modular platform and battery system, Ultium, on March 4, 2020 at its Tech Center campus in Warren, Michigan.
Photo by Steve Fecht of General Motors
Detroit — general motors is retiring the Ultium name for its electric vehicle batteries and supporting technology, after years of promoting the brand as it rethinks its EV and battery business.
The Detroit automaker announced the switch Tuesday ahead of an investor event. Executives today discussed reducing battery costs and touted efforts to diversify battery chemistries.
GM also confirmed that it is on track to produce and wholesale approximately 200,000 EVs for North America this year, and plans to achieve profitability on a production basis, or contribution profit basis, by the end of this year.
In addition to EVs, GM touted lower capital costs and the company’s flexibility to produce both conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines and EVs. The company’s EV efforts come at a time when the spread of electric vehicles is slower than expected.
GM’s stock price was mostly flat, except for a roughly 3% rise at the start of the event.
GM stock
The change to Ultium comes as GM has spent billions of dollars developing its in-house “Ultium” battery and technology, which the company has previously described as “revolutionary” and the ultimate technology it could use to build a profitable EV business. This was done after it had been advertised as such.
The company said that while the batteries and technology will remain, the “Ultium” name will remain only in production operations such as the “Ultium Cell” joint venture factory with LG Energy Solutions.
“As GM continues to expand its EV business, GM will no longer brand its electric vehicle architectures, batteries and cells, and EV components with the Ultium name, starting in North America,” the company said in a statement.
GM is rethinking its EV battery strategy in response to changing market conditions and an influx of new outside executives. tesla They are JP Clausen, a military veteran who currently heads GM’s manufacturing division, and Kurt Kelty, GM’s vice president of batteries.
The company’s EV sales are growing, but not at the pace the company had hoped. According to the report, EV sales in the third quarter increased by about 60% from the same period last year to about 32,100 units. Still, EV accounted for only 4.9% of the company’s total sales in the third quarter.
The 200,000 EV goal reaffirmed by GM CEO Mary Barra on Tuesday was revised down from previous guidance of 200,000 to 250,000, which had been lowered from a maximum of 300,000. .
GM has already begun transitioning from the original Ultium pouch batteries made using LG and nickel-manganese-cobalt to other battery types and chemistries.
Earlier this year, GM announced a more than $3 billion deal with LG rival Samsung SDI of South Korea to make hard-can batteries, known as prismatic cells.
“We are moving from a single source, single form factor, single chemical to a multi-chemical, multi-form factor, multi-supplier strategy,” Kelty said in a report published Monday by The Information told. “What we’re going to do going forward is really optimize for each vehicle.”
Will Ferrell will appear in an upcoming Super Bowl commercial that is an extension of GM’s “Everybody In” EV ad campaign.
GM
After the automaker spent millions of dollars on marketing and advertising, including airing back-to-back star-studded Ultium ads during the 2021 and 2022 Super Bowls on vehicles that weren’t yet available for customers to buy. We are steering the optimization strategy. .
GM is rethinking other areas as well. Rory Harvey, GM’s president of global markets, including North America, told CNBC in September that plans for a second all-electric vehicle factory in Orion Township, Michigan, will be fully integrated, from production to the entire supply chain. He admitted that he is reconsidering the matter.
“We’re always learning lessons. We’re always learning,” he said in September. “The reason we’re doing what Orion is doing is because if you look at the original EV adoption trend, the fact is that for the industry and for us, it was slightly ahead.” is also aggressive. ”
“This allows us to take a breather, refocus, and determine what is appropriate for the customer demands that exist today,” he said.
GM currently has one EV-only factory in the U.S. called Factory Zero in Detroit. The Orion plant was scheduled to become the company’s second plant by the end of 2024, but the company delayed that plan by at least a year.
