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Because it seeks to deal with manufacturing points with its present Ultium battery cells, Basic Motors could also be contemplating one thing much more advanced.
First noticed by Motor1, a just lately filed GM patent software discusses battery cells with Lego-like shapes meant to accommodate cooling channels. As a substitute of constructing battery modules out of a strong mass of cells and putting in a cooling plate beneath, as GM does with its present EVs, gaps between the cells would assist enhance cooling and lengthen battery life, the automaker claims within the software.
GM additionally claims an identical impact may very well be achieved with cells with a extra standard rectangular form. On this model, cells of various size and thickness could be organized to create an H-shaped channel within the module to assist cooling.
Basic Motors Lego-like battery cell patent picture
Both design would probably require GM to stay with roughly rectangular pouch cells, much like what it is at the moment utilizing, fairly than the cylindrical cells Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla declare have some thermal benefits, and that BMW is now adopting as nicely.
Automakers do not at all times find yourself utilizing the concepts they patent, so it is unclear if this various type of battery cooling will seem in a manufacturing EV. GM has stated that it is versatile in its battery cells, however manufacturing nonuniform cells would probably add to the challenges GM is already experiencing in ramping up manufacturing of its Ultium EVs.
GM selected its present large-format pouch cells for being particularly straightforward to make, however the automaker’s expertise to this point would possibly counsel in any other case. In accordance with a current Bloomberg report, the automaker goals to construct 200,000 to 300,000 EVs this yr. That may be large enchancment over the roughly 14,000 Ultium EVs bought in 2023, however nonetheless nicely wanting unique estimates, Bloomberg notes.
Basic Motors Lego-like battery cell patent picture
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The report claims GM “bypassed its personal finest practices” so as to begin Ultium battery-pack manufacturing rapidly. For instance, it skipped the everyday check of automated meeting line gear, putting in the gear in its “Manufacturing unit Zero” in Detroit with out that testing. And it particulars battery-related fires at Manufacturing unit Zero, together with one which began after a forklift pierced a battery pack.
GM has additionally been plagued with software program points, which put deliveries of the Chevrolet Blazer EV on maintain for months.
GM executives assume the worst of those points at the moment are behind the corporate, and that it’s crawling out of the “manufacturing hell” part of the Ultium ramp, in accordance with Bloomberg. However has GM gotten sufficient management over these points to begin shifting on to new cell configurations?
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