Normal Motors has determined that it’s going to ditch the “Ultium,” the identify of its electrical car and battery applied sciences venture, after a number of years of utilizing it to indicate issues associated to its improvement of EVs.
Earlier than its Investor Occasion on Tuesday, GM stated that it might drop the identify in an announcement, bringing an finish to a number of years of developments which have fallen underneath the moniker:
“As GM continues to increase its EV enterprise, the corporate is not branding its electrical car structure, battery and cells, or EV elements with the Ultium identify, beginning in North America.”
Make no mistake, the corporate is not ditching its improvement of EVs, batteries, or different applied sciences. All of these issues will nonetheless be developed and stay underneath GM’s enterprise, however the firm noticed it as time to lose the Ultium label for these initiatives.
Why? GM has already shifted its battery technique to include varieties and chemistries outdoors of the Ultium pouch cells. These are produced by LG with nickel, manganese, and cobalt.
It has already put $3 billion right into a battery manufacturing deal for prismatic cells with Samsung SDI, and its VP of Battery, Kurt Kelty, advised The Info earlier this week that it’s hoping to simplify its battery technique throughout a number of suppliers to optimize manufacturing and its autos:
“We’re shifting from a single-source, single-form issue, single-chemistry to a multi-chemistry, multi-form issue, multi-supplier technique. What we’re going to do going ahead is admittedly optimize for every car.”
It’s additionally no secret that GM has struggled to really get its EV phase shifting to some extent the place it’s snug. Chevrolet, a GM model, was fourth in general EV market share in the USA final yr with 5.6 p.c. Cadillac had 0.8 p.c, GMC had 0.3 p.c.
GM was the third-best-selling EV maker within the U.S. final yr, holding 5.6 p.c of the market. Tesla was first with 59.1 p.c, and Ford was second with 6.5 p.c, based on CleanTechnica knowledge.
Though GM has its place on the rostrum, it, like Ford, has really struggled to make a substantial dent in Tesla’s dominating market share. Ford determined to prioritize hybrids over EVs in an announcement earlier this yr, shifting its focus as clients are extra involved in the perfect of each ICE and EV engines.
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