General Motors is ramping up its all-electric lineup as the company is making improvements to its expanded battery lab. Plus a new LG Electronics plant in Michigan will soon start manufacturing its battery pack operations.
LG’s battery pack facility in Hazel Park, Michigan will be supplying the battery packs to GM’s Orion Assembly Plant. This is where GM builds the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt.
“We expanded our battery lab. We’re now able to complete nearly all battery testing under one roof, reducing development time, and cost. The significant expansion of this lab, already one of the largest in the world, brings the facility to more than 100,000 sq. ft. and includes new heavy and mild battery abuse test areas,” said Barra in a LinkedIn post. “Over the last decade, this lab, located at our Global Technical Center in Warren, Mich., helped bring the Chevrolet Volt, Spark EV and Bolt EV to life, and now it’s paving the way for an all-electric future. And we’re not done. Additional major enhancements begin this fall with new test chambers and advanced equipment to accelerate our next-generation battery architecture.”
GM is planning to launch 20 new all-electric vehicles by 2023. And the company is planning to deliver a prototype vehicle capable of a 180-mile range with less than 10 minutes of charging to Delta Electronics for testing as set up through a U.S. Department of Energy initiative.
“Creating a world of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion won’t happen overnight, of course, but our journey to this future is underway,” Barra added. “We have an unwavering commitment to invest in the technology to drive our all-electric future. And we have the right team, technology, partners and manufacturing scale to make it happen. This is just the beginning.”
