TL;DRGM partnered with Peak Energy on sodium-ion batteries and expanded into grid storage with Redwood Materials and LG Energy Solution.
General Motors is pushing into energy storage for data centres and the electrical grid, announcing a sodium-ion battery development partnership with Peak Energy, a lithium iron phosphate supply deal with LG Energy Solution, and an expanded relationship with Redwood Materials. The moves mark GM’s clearest signal yet that it sees its $900 million investment in battery chemistry as a business that extends well beyond the cars it sells.
The Peak Energy partnership is the most technically ambitious piece. GM will co-develop sodium-ion battery cells at its Battery Cell Development Center in Warren, Michigan, with the goal of reaching trial production by 2028. Sodium-ion cells use sodium, iron, and manganese instead of lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which makes them cheaper to produce and less dependent on supply chains concentrated in China.
No automaker outside China has committed to sodium-ion development at this scale, making GM the first Western car company to move beyond research papers and into manufacturing trials. Peak Energy, a Bay Area startup backed by $100 million in funding, currently produces sodium-ion cells at a pilot facility in Escondido, California. The company is building a larger factory that it says will be capable of producing 10 GWh of cells annually.
