The lab where GM is cooking up new EV batteries to beat China

"For The Verge's exclusive tour of these secretive labs, I watch researchers peer at cell chemistries down to the atomistic level, using electron microscopes. Others work at a larger scale, all the way up to the Megashaker. Inside a cavernous hall, an enormous sliding test chamber envelops one of GM's double-stacked, 205-kilowatt-hour battery packs - the type that powers hulking models like the Cadillac Escalade IQ."

"The 2,900-pound pack is suspended in midair from a ceiling-mounted crane, bolted to a surrounding structure to mimic its connection to a moving vehicle. Like a lithium-soaked smoothie, the battery is hydraulically shaken in the atmospherically controlled chamber, simulating anything from potholes to low-speed collisions. With dozens of test chambers for individual cells, modules, or entire packs, GM can simulate 10 years and 250,000 miles of real-world battery use and abuse in about six months."

"Pollution and fuel-economy rules face an anachronistic rollback, encouraging automakers to lean into fossil-fueled cars. In the latest indignity, the $7,500 federal clean-car credits, beloved by EV buyers and a wellspring of sales for GM and other automakers, have been choked off by the Trump administration. All that took a $1.6 billion toll on GM's bottom line this week, in the form of a writedown on third-quarter earnings."

General Motors operates expansive battery laboratories in suburban Detroit where scientists analyze lithium-ion cell stresses including extreme temperatures, humidity, and intensive charge-discharge cycles. Researchers use electron microscopes to examine chemistries at atomic scales and large-scale equipment like a Megashaker to test full 205-kWh packs under simulated road conditions. The labs can emulate roughly ten years and 250,000 miles of use in about six months across cells, modules, and packs. Market challenges include high consumer prices, regulatory rollbacks favoring fossil-fuel vehicles, and the elimination of a $7,500 federal clean-car credit, which contributed to a $1.6 billion third-quarter writedown.

Read at The Verge