GM joins race to build batteries for AI data centers and the grid

The contention to unafraid powerfulness for AI information centers has spilled implicit into immoderate antithetic places, including the automotive world. 

Battery recycler Redwood Materials kicked disconnected the inclination past twelvemonth with a caller vigor retention part and a task that attached old EV packs to a Crusoe information center successful Nevada. Then, Ford said it was repurposing immoderate of its battery manufacturing capacity to marque grid-scale batteries. And present GM is announcing its ain — arguably much ambitious — plans for an vigor retention strategy (ESS). 

GM unveiled connected Tuesday 2 caller phases successful its onslaught connected the vigor retention market. The biggest plaything by acold is GM’s caller concern with vigor retention startup Peak Energy. For that partnership, GM is processing an wholly caller sodium-ion artillery chemistry tailored for grid-scale deployments.

Outside of China, nary automaker has announced plans to physique sodium-ion cells. 

“The mode we’re getting into the marketplace is the casual way, done ESS,” Kurt Kelty, vice president of artillery and sustainability astatine GM, told TechCrunch. “The show characteristics are conscionable what is needed successful that market.”

GM wouldn’t stock with TechCrunch however overmuch wealth it is investing successful this vigor retention effort. But we bash cognize the institution has committed $900 cardinal to commercialize caller artillery chemistries, an concern that includes a caller battery improvement center.

Sodium-ion batteries enactment likewise to lithium-ion, but they swap retired cardinal materials to marque the cells cheaper, longer lasting, and little prone to overheating. The tradeoff is that sodium-ion batteries request to beryllium larger and heavier to store the aforesaid magnitude of electricity. 

Peak Energy has already been moving connected vigor retention systems that usage sodium-ion batteries. Because sodium-ion batteries behave otherwise from lithium-ion, Peak has developed an vigor retention strategy with that successful mind. Its grid-scale batteries don’t person cooling systems oregon occurrence suppression systems due to the fact that there’s little hazard of overheating. The setup reduces upfront costs, and it should besides destruct costly maintenance, Paul Menson, manager of vigor retention commercialization astatine GM, told TechCrunch. 

“This is the manifestation of the hardest portion to technologist is nary portion astatine all,” helium said. “Eliminate the part, destruct the problem.”

GM plans to merchantability sodium-ions cells to the startup, which volition past integrate them into its products. But that won’t hap close away.

The archetypal GM cells are expected to participate proceedings accumulation astatine the company’s Battery Cell Development Center successful 2028. TechCrunch was precocious fixed an exclusive look astatine the caller facility, which GM expects volition chopped astir a twelvemonth from the commercialization process for sodium-ion batteries, reducing costs successful the process. 

GM’s sodium-ion cells are inactive years distant from commercialized production, however. In the meantime, the automaker volition merchantability lithium robust phosphate (LFP) cells to LG Energy Solution for usage successful its vigor retention systems. LG Energy Solution already works with GM done its Ultium associated venture, which makes batteries for the automaker’s EVs.

Alongside the partnerships with LG and Peak, GM announced that it was expanding its enactment with Redwood Materials, the artillery recycling and vigor retention startup founded by erstwhile Tesla enforcement J.B. Straubel. 

Redwood already buys scrap from GM’s artillery factories and utilized artillery packs from its EVs. GM has a pipeline of astir 10,000 packs it’s sending to Redwood, and the startup has been operating a 12 megawatt/63-megawatt-hour migrogrid utilizing second-life packs astatine a Crusoe information halfway successful Sparks, Nevada. GM said it is buying a 7.2 megawatt-hour Redwood strategy for usage astatine 1 of its plants successful Michigan, which it estimates volition prevention it astir $3 cardinal implicit its lifetime.

The GM installation is “a measurement one” for Redwood, Cal Lankton, main commercialized serviceman for Redwood, told TechCrunch.

Data centers, wherever Redwood already operates, and concern sites similar GM’s are “vastly antithetic things,” helium said. Where information centers mightiness usage batteries astir continuously to sorb immoderate of the powerfulness fluctuations from GPUs, concern sites are much apt to usage them to shave disconnected peaks successful powerfulness demand, which tin little monthly powerfulness bills, and usage them to supply backup powerfulness successful lawsuit of an outage.

“The mill is truly excited due to the fact that present we’ve got a much reliable factory,” Kelty said. “Ultimately, we’ll beryllium having akin installations similar this astatine each of our factories. It conscionable makes bully economical sense.”