GM’s Energy exhibit seen at the New York International Auto Show on April 16, 2025.
Daniel DeVries | CNBC
general motors By promoting a variety of battery cell chemistries, the company is expanding its efforts to capitalize on the expected growth in energy storage and data centers, while increasing its support for electric vehicle owners to combat rising energy costs.
The Detroit automaker on Tuesday detailed plans to enhance vehicle-to-grid capabilities for its EV customers and develop next-generation sodium-ion batteries that GM battery leaders said will “reimagine grid-scale energy storage.”
Both moves are aimed at addressing concerns about rising energy costs amid the artificial intelligence boom. Stock markets are speculating that huge amounts of money will be spent on infrastructure to support the construction of large data centers.
“Sodium ion-powered energy storage systems have the potential to operate without active cooling and with significantly reduced system complexity,” Kurt Kelty, GM’s vice president of batteries and sustainability, said in a blog post on Tuesday. “In large-scale energy storage systems, that’s important.”
There is no need to cool the battery cells, which could lead to lower initial and operating costs, the automaker said.
At a basic level, sodium-ion batteries work much like lithium-ion batteries, but GM says they have the potential to perform over a wider temperature range and for more cycles.
Provided by: GM
Kelty said GM is partnering with Denver-based startup Peak Energy to develop sodium-ion battery cells, and the company has already demonstrated how the chemistry can “reduce costs and improve reliability.”
The automaker expects to produce sodium-ion batteries for customers starting in 2028 through its partnership with Peak Energy.
Founded in 2023, Peak Energy’s management team includes former employees. tesla, lockheed martin According to the website, the company is working with Northvolt, a battery developer.
A GM spokeswoman declined to comment on the details or cost of the partnership with Peak Energy.
Along with developing new sodium-ion battery cells, GM said it continues to work with companies such as Redwood Materials to reuse large EV batteries for energy storage systems, and to manufacture low-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells through a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions.
While LFP batteries are seen as a quick way for companies to leverage existing battery capacity, GM said it believes sodium-ion battery cells are the future solution for such systems.
“Our development of next-generation sodium-ion batteries increases energy density and has the potential to outperform more mature chemistries, including LFPs, over time. This is a true differentiator in a market increasingly shaped by cost pressures, energy demand growth, and geopolitical risk,” Kelty said.
GM has spent billions of dollars in recent years to ramp up research and development and battery cell production in preparation for exponential growth in all-electric vehicles, but things haven’t materialized as planned.
GM, through its joint venture Ultium Cells, currently has approximately 90 gigawatt-hours of production capacity at two plants in Ohio and Tennessee. In March, Ultium Cells announced a $70 million investment to begin production of LFP batteries for energy storage systems at its Tennessee facility.
Other automakers including GM crosstown rivals ford motorhas shifted its focus to energy storage to help fill the capacity of the U.S.’s multibillion-dollar battery factories.
For GM customers, the ability for EVs to send energy back to the grid during peak periods or power their homes through the Detroit automaker’s energy storage system could help reduce energy costs and grid usage.
GM said it is exploring partnerships with utility companies across the country to help provide these Vehicle to Grid services to customers. It already has partnerships with power companies in California and Michigan.
U.S. residential electricity prices have increased nearly 48% since January 2020, from 12.76 cents per kilowatt-hour to 18.83 cents per kilowatt-hour in March 2026, and are expected to rise to about 19 cents per kilowatt-hour starting in March 2027, according to recent forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
GM on Tuesday also announced Energy Pass, which targets more seamless public charging for EV customers, including when using Tesla Superchargers, and said that as of the 2027 model year, all fully electric vehicles it produces will have a North American charging standard charging port.
