Why General Motors is making a ‘risky’ bet on an unproven battery technology

The head of General Motors’ battery business is staking his reputation on an unproven chemistry to revive the Detroit-based carmaker’s EV fortunes following $7.6bn in writedowns.

Kurt Kelty said his “ambitious and risky” bet on becoming the first global carmaker to use a lithium manganese-rich battery technology, which critics regard as commercially unviable, is necessary to resuscitate US EV uptake. GM expects to deliver its first LMR-powered vehicles in 2028.

“If LMR has failed, then I have failed . . . but if you don’t take any risk, we’re just going to be making the same old thing and just have copycat vehicles out there, and that’s not what I was brought in to do,” said Kelty, an alumnus of Tesla and Panasonic, who was hired in 2024 to spearhead GM’s battery development.

“We need to make some significant improvements to really get that hockey-stick growth eventually in EVs,” he added.

After a surge of American enthusiasm for EVs in 2021 and 2022, growth has fallen short of expectations. Slumping sales have resulted in costly writedowns for Detroit carmakers that misjudged the trajectory of EV adoption.

Stellantis and Ford have each recorded multibillion-dollar charges in recent months. GM in January disclosed a $6bn hit related to its stalled EV transition.

Reversing this trend may not be possible this decade, according to Kelty, who predicted EVs were unlikely to take off again until the 2030s.

Of the factors hampering EV adoption, the “biggest one of all”, Kelty said, was the change in regulatory environment under Donald Trump, whose term ends in 2029. Last month, the president announced proposals to slash fuel efficiency standards for US vehicles and withdrew a $7,500 EV consumer tax credit in September 2025.

But Kelty also acknowledged that western carmakers had not worked out how to bring costs down sufficiently to spur mass adoption, unlike in China where battery and plug-in hybrid models accounted for more than 50 per cent of new car sales in 2025. In the US, EVs are forecast to account for about 8 per cent of vehicle sales this year, according to Cox Automotive.

As part of his efforts, GM has reduced its reliance on its longtime Korean battery partner LG Energy Solution for nickel-rich batteries as it diversifies its roster of cell suppliers. The move also allows the company to use different forms of batteries, including so-called prismatic ones that can be stacked more efficiently.

However, the centrepiece of Kelty’s strategy is for GM to develop its own LMR batteries. He said this would go a long way towards closing the gap because their use of manganese reduces the need for pricier and harder to obtain critical minerals such as nickel and cobalt used in popular high-performance battery technologies.

He argued that LMR offered a middle way between the cheaper but less energy-dense “lithium iron phosphate” (LFP) batteries preferred by Chinese cell makers, and the more expensive high-nickel batteries produced by Korean companies that dominate the North American market.

Sceptics note more established EV and battery makers had shied away from LMR because of persistent technological hurdles including so-called voltage fading, when a battery’s capabilities decline steeply following multiple charges.

Kelty insisted his team, working with LG, had “solved” the voltage fading issue, although he has not explained how publicly.

The chemistry will give the company access to batteries comparable in cost to LFP batteries produced outside of China, but with a 33 per cent improvement in performance, Kelty said. GM’s LMR batteries would still be more expensive than LFP batteries produced in China, however.

While GM has not started to procure materials for mass production of LMR batteries, Kelty is confident it will hit its 2028 target. He also confirmed that the group was in talks with other carmakers about the possibility of supplying them with cells for use in rival EVs.

“We are going to win the LMR race and in 2028 when we introduce our product we’re going to be kicking butt, we’re going to be selling a lot of these vehicles,” he said.

GM is up against Ford, which is planning to introduce its own LMR-powered EV by the end of 2029.

But Kelty added that even after LMR battery technology hits the road, western carmakers would need to do more to replicate China’s ability to produce EVs comparable in cost to petrol-powered vehicles.

“Is [2028] the moment when we get that inflection point? To be upfront — no, I think we still have another big iteration to go after that to drive down cost even further.”