GM started work on the chemistry in 2015, and LG Energy Solution’s first LMR patent goes back to 2010. Wonjoon Suh, who then led LG Energy Solution’s Advanced Automotive Battery division, called the new cell “the culmination of our decades-long research and investment in the technology.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somewhere between LFP and nickel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
IEEE Spectrum’s Lawrence Ulrich summed up the competition. LFP batteries “are notably safe and durable,” he wrote, but “the trade-off for all that is mediocre energy density.” Those cheap, long-lasting LFP packs<\/a> are the chemistry that “jump-started the explosive growth of EVs in China,” in his words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By his numbers, the latest Blade LFP battery from BYD stores roughly 350 watt-hours per liter, a measure of how much energy fits into a given space, against more than 600 for GM’s nickel-rich Ultium cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trade outlet electrive says GM and LG Energy Solution view LMR “as a middle ground between cost-effective LFP cells and energy-dense high-nickel chemistries.” Other carmakers are chasing cheaper options too, and China has already introduced an electric car with a sodium-ion battery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prismatic cells come in hard rectangular cases. GM’s LMR cell is “about the size of a coffee-table book,” according to IEEE Spectrum, and the larger format leaves room for more active battery material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That can cut the components inside each module by 75 percent and in the full pack by 50 percent, the magazine reported, so a Silverado EV or Escalade IQ “could replace their double-stacked pack of 24 NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) modules with just six LMR modules.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n GM’s stated goal is “more than 400 miles of range in an electric truck” (about 644 kilometers) with “significant battery pack cost savings compared to today’s high-nickel pack.” Electrek notes that the high-nickel Chevrolet Silverado EV already has an estimated range of up to 478 miles (769 kilometers) and starts at $55,895.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the new cells should not require brand-new lines, either. “In fact, the processing steps for making LMR actually get reduced by a couple of steps,” Narayanaswamy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spring Hill site covers 2.8 million square feet (about 260,000 square meters) next to a GM assembly plant, IndustryWeek reported<\/a>. It drew more than $2.3 billion and a pledge of 1,300 jobs in 2021, then $275 million and 400 more jobs in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultium says the LMR program, the LFP cells it began making in June for energy storage customers of LG Energy Solution Vertech, and facility improvements will together reach $1 billion by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When GM and LG Energy Solution announced their joint venture in 2021, we knew it would create new opportunities for more than 1,000 Tennessee families,” Gov. Bill Lee said in the state’s announcement<\/a>. “I’m grateful for Ultium Cells’ continued investment in our state and the confidence they’ve placed in Tennessee’s highly skilled workforce and look forward to building on our partnership in the years ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This marks Ultium Cells’ second major investment in Spring Hill and reflects the company’s continued growth as a diversified battery cell manufacturer,” said Injae Pahk, president of Ultium Cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n State Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican from Hohenwald, put it in local terms. “Producing this new battery technology here will strengthen our community’s role in automotive manufacturing and help drive Tennessee’s economy forward,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson told the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference in September that LMR would cut costs by “thousands of dollars per vehicle at the pack level.” EV progress, he said, is now “not about expanding the portfolio per se.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s really about going after the architecture, going after the makeup, going after the battery cell technology to bring down the cost,” Jacobson said in remarks reported by IndustryWeek’s Geert De Lombaerde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In June, Kelty had already told Reuters that “there is a possibility where LFP does not earn its way into our portfolio,” and he called LMR GM’s “workhorse” chemistry. “That’s where we’re going to be using the big volume,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at the auto advisory firm Telemetry, estimated in 2025 that GM’s LMR packs would likely cost around $80 to $90 per kilowatt-hour, the usual yardstick for battery prices, compared with at least $125 per kilowatt-hour for its current batteries, CNBC reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abuelsamid told CNBC that LMR batteries have existed for decades and have usually worn out much sooner, which reporter Michael Wayland called “a problem GM believes it has solved.” Charged EVs wrote that LMR cells “have historically been plagued by a short lifespan and voltage attenuation over time,” meaning the cell’s voltage sags as it ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That worry is familiar to EV shoppers, even as EV batteries keep beating expectations after hundreds of thousands of miles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It could be aluminum or tungsten or boron that helps prevent the contact of manganese with the electrolyte itself,” Narayanaswamy said of the coatings GM uses, adding that GM’s Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center had built 300 prototype cells in 18 varieties and tested them to the equivalent of 1.4 million miles (2.25 million kilometers) of driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The result is that our new LMR cells can match the lifespan of current generation high-nickel cells, with comparable performance but much lower cost,” GM said in 2025, according to Charged EVs. The outlet electrive still lists durability, capacity loss and limited fast charging as weak spots, and Electrek expects the first GM vehicle with LMR batteries in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBigger cells and fewer parts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/gm-lmr-prototype-battery-cell.jpg\")
Tennessee officials count the jobs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The math GM cares about<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Durability is still the open question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n