GM may not make LFP the future backbone of its EV battery strategy.
LMR could offer LFP-like costs with better energy density, GM says.
The catch: LMR still has to prove itself in the real world before it becomes viable for mass-produced EVs.
General Motors may be taking a different path from much of the rest of the car industry. Automakers are increasingly relying on lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries to make their electric vehicles cheaper, but GM could skip this chemistry in favor of something it deems even better, according to comments from a GM executive speaking to Reuters on Wednesday.
GM had been open to offering LFP batteries in its future EVs, and even launched the new Chevy Bolt with an LFP battery. But Reuters quotes the company’s battery head honcho Kurt Kelty as saying that the technology may not have a future at GM. Kelty said “There is a possibility where LFP does not earn its way into our portfolio,” pointing to lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries as an alternative.
