Q&A with MP Materials’ Matt Sloustcher. There’s much hand-wringing in the press these days about battery raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. However, save some of your anxiety for rare earth materials. These elements (which are not particularly rare, but seemed so to the scientists who named them back in the 18th century)… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Ultium battery platform"
GM says equipping the next-gen Chevy Bolt EV with LFP batteries will save billions
EV enthusiasts were disappointed at GM’s decision to discontinue the popular (if a bit dull) Chevy Bolt EV last year. In hindsight, the move may have been premature—the new Ultium EVs that were supposed to replace the Bolt in GM’s lineup have been delayed, causing the company to post embarrassingly low EV sales figures for… Read more »
GM hires EV superstar Kurt Kelty as Vice President of Batteries
It’s plain to anyone who follows the auto industry that there are pro-EV and anti-EV factions at every legacy automaker. For the last three decades, the OEMs’ interest in EVs has flapped this way and that in the winds of quarterly earnings and political shifts. Last fall, the “let’s wait awhile” contingent appeared to have… Read more »
GM’s rosy year-end figures obscure the fact that legacy automakers are in deep trouble
Duplicitous doublespeak has become de rigueur dialect in the auto industry. “We remain committed to an all-electric future,” says GM as it announces a rollback of its electrification plans. “We strongly believe in EVs,” say auto dealers as they support efforts to slow the EV transition. “The greatest responsibility for us as a company is… Read more »
Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30: Are they 2024’s most important EVs?
One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both. Choosing “best of” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the 2025 models that will be most important… Read more »
OneD raises $25 million in Series C funds, enters R&D agreement with GM
GM and OneD Battery Sciences will cooperate to research the possible use of OneD’s silicon nanotechnology in GM’s Ultium cells. Meanwhile, OneD has raised $25 million in Series C funding from investors including GM Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies. “Given a licensing business model and low operational costs, Series C funds will be used to… Read more »
2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV: Chevy previews a mass-market electric SUV
Mid-size five-seat crossovers are a huge segment, and Chevy wants yours to plug in—next year. Chevrolet, it seems, doesn’t want to scare potential shoppers by offering up electric vehicles that stress too heavily the fact they’re … well, different. An advance preview of the upcoming 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV suggested it’s very much a Chevy… Read more »
BrightDrop: GM’s silent push into electric commercial vehicles
Upcoming electric passenger vehicles and light trucks from GM get most of the attention, but its new commercial EV brand is a quiet and very serious push too. Many US drivers now have a vague idea that General Motors is doing something with electric vehicles. They’ve seen Super Bowl ads for the GMC Hummer EV,… Read more »
Today’s EV engineering webinar schedule: Thursday, April 7th
Charged is hosting a virtual conference on EV engineering that’s free to attend and it starts today. The conference includes live webinar sessions with interactive Q&As and on-demand webinars. View the daily session schedule online here. All of the live sessions will be recorded and available to view after the broadcasts. You can access the… Read more »
GM’s “fuel cell power cubes” could replace diesel and gas generators
Automakers have invested big bucks in fuel cells over the past few years, and they’d probably be glad to find some viable applications for the technology. GM is developing ways to apply its Hydrotec fuel cell technology to power generation. GM is planning multiple Hydrotec-based power generators, all powered by GM’s Generation 2 Hydrotec fuel… Read more »