GM and Lithion announce an investment and strategic partnership to pursue a circular EV battery ecosystem

22 September 2022, 12:46:40

Lithion Recycling and General Motors today announced that GM Ventures, the automaker's investment arm, has made a strategic investment in Lithion's Series A financing round, supporting a new GM-Lithion strategic partnership agreement to pursue a circular battery ecosystem using Lithion's advanced battery recycling technology. With a recovery rate of over 95% and using Québec's green energy, Lithion's technology and operations will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 75% and water usage by over 90%.

In August, Ultium Cells, GM's joint venture with LG Energy Solution, opened its first U.S. battery cell plant, with two additional plants under construction. A fourth planned battery cell plant will bring GM’s projected total U.S. battery capacity to 160 GWh. GM now has binding agreements securing all its battery raw material to reach annual planned capacity in 2025, including lithium, nickel, cobalt and full cathode active material supply. As the company moves forward, it will work to increasingly localize its battery materials supply chain to North America.

In 2023, Lithion will launch its first commercial recycling operations, drawing on data from its highly successful industrial-scale demonstration plant commissioned in January 2020. The opening of this facility, with a capacity of 7,500 metric tons per year of lithium-ion batteries, will be followed in 2025 by the launch of Lithion’s first hydrometallurgical plant. Lithion has multiple facilities in the pipeline for the U.S., Europe and Korea, in line with its vision to support rapid deployment and enhanced battery end-of-life management globally.

News related to GM, General Motors or Lithium

General Motors today shared its progress toward its global vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion at GM China Tech Day 2022 in Shanghai. It announced the plan to roll out more than 15 Ultium-based models in China by 2025, and reinforced its commitment to making electric vehicles more connected and intelligent. Its portfolio ranges from the Cruise Origin AV and BrightDrop commercial vehicles, to...

23 November 2022

General Motors successfully scales EV production capacity in North America to more than 1 million units per year. Hence, it predicts that its complete portfolio of BEVs will be "solidly profitable in 2025." As to achieve its goals, the brand aims at achieving 20% of all EV sales in the USA in 2025. This goal will be achieved via multiple entries in pickup, SUV and luxury segments that represent about 70% of EV...

18 November 2022

Vale Canada and General Motors signed a term sheet for the long-term supply of battery-grade nickel sulfate from Vale's proposed plant at Bécancour, Québec, Canada. This agreement secures for GM a supply of nickel sulfate from a U.S. free-trade partner to support its fast-growing EV production needs in North America. Vale and GM have also agreed to study collaborative ways to partner on advanced technology...

18 November 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took a huge step forward in its effort to shore up America's domestic supply of battery-grade lithium. Lithium, which, after a refining process, is used to produce cathode materials for lithium batteries, is currently produced almost entirely outside the United States. This creates a vulnerability in the domestic supply chain for lithium batteries, which power everything from...

15 November 2022

General Motors announced the introduction of Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial, which in combination with the existing Ultium Charge 360, create a holistic ecosystem of energy management products and services that will be housed under a new business unit called GM Energy. GM Energy's connected product and service offerings are designed to offer cohesive energy management for home, commercial and EV customers, with...

12 October 2022

General Motors will invest $760 million at its Toledo, Ohio propulsion manufacturing operations to prepare the facility for production of drive units that will be used in future Ultium-based battery electric trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and GMC HUMMER EVs. Toledo Propulsion Systems will be GM’s first U.S. powertrain or propulsion-related manufacturing facility transformed for...

28 September 2022

General Motors and Environmental Defense Fund today announced a set of recommendations that seek to accelerate a zero-emissions, all-electric future for passenger vehicles in the model year 2027 and beyond. The recommendations were jointly developed by GM and EDF to support the next tier of EPA clean car standards. GM and EDF encourage EPA to establish standards aimed at ensuring that at least 50% of new vehicles...

22 September 2022

Cadillac reached another electric vehicle milestone today in China with the start of pre-production of the LYRIQ at SAIC-GM's Cadillac plant in Shanghai. The first all-electric vehicle from GM's luxury brand has now entered its final stage of development in China before mass production and deliveries to customers. This stage includes optimizing the manufacturing process, conducting reliability tests and carrying out...

7 May 2022

GM announced a feature standard in its Ultium-based EVs that captures and repurposes waste energy from the battery. Through the Ultium Platform's energy recovery system, this waste energy can increase a vehicle's range, reduce battery energy needed for heating, increase charging speed, and even enable sportier driving. EV batteries, power electronics, and other propulsion components produce heat. The Ultium Platform...

26 April 2022

LG Magna e-Powertrain, a joint venture between LG Electronics and Magna International Inc., celebrated the groundbreaking of its new plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. Scheduled for completion in 2023, the new facility will produce inverters, motors, and onboard chargers to support General Motors’ new electric vehicle (EV) platform. The 260,000 square foot plant will be LG Magna e-Powertrain’s first production base in...

20 April 2022

Glencore and General Motors announced today a multi-year sourcing agreement in which Glencore will supply GM with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin operation in Australia. Cobalt is an important metal in the production of EV batteries, and the cobalt processed from Australia will be used in GM’s Ultium battery cathodes, which will power electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV, and Cadillac...

13 April 2022

General Motors and Honda today announced plans to expand the two companies' relationship to a new chapter by codeveloping a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global architecture using next-generation Ultium battery technology. The companies are working together to enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027, including compact crossover vehicles, leveraging the two companies'...

5 April 2022

Today, General Motors marks another major milestone in its commitment to an all-electric future as Cadillac formally celebrates the beginning of retail production of the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant. GM President Mark Reuss, Cadillac Vice President Rory Harvey, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, UAW representatives, plant employees and other officials joined together today to celebrate...

22 March 2022

Chevrolet provided a glimpse of the all-electric Chevrolet Blazer SS, which will be the first Chevy EV to feature a performance SS model. The all-electric Blazer SS will make its debut later this year and will be available in spring 2023.

9 March 2022