General Motors has decided that it will ditch the “Ultium,” the name of its electric vehicle and battery technologies project, after several years of using it to denote things related to its development of EVs.
Before its Investor Event on Tuesday, GM said that it would drop the name in a statement, bringing an end to several years of developments that have fallen under the moniker:
“As GM continues to expand its EV business, the company is no longer branding its electric vehicle architecture, battery and cells, or EV components with the Ultium name, starting in North America.”
Make no mistake, the company is not ditching its development of EVs, batteries, or other technologies. All of those things will still be developed and remain under GM’s business, but the company saw it as time to lose the Ultium label for these projects.
Why? GM has already shifted its battery strategy to incorporate types and chemistries outside of the Ultium pouch cells. These are produced by LG with nickel, manganese, and cobalt.
It has already put $3 billion into a battery manufacturing deal for prismatic cells with Samsung SDI, and its VP of Battery, Kurt Kelty, told The Information earlier this week that it is hoping to simplify its battery strategy across multiple suppliers to optimize manufacturing and its vehicles:
“We’re moving from a single-source, single-form factor, single-chemistry to a multi-chemistry, multi-form factor, multi-supplier strategy. What we’re going to do going forward is really optimize for each vehicle.”
It’s also no secret that GM has struggled to truly get its EV segment moving to a point where it is comfortable. Chevrolet, a GM brand, was fourth in overall EV market share in the United States last year with 5.6 percent. Cadillac had 0.8 percent, GMC had 0.3 percent.
GM was the third-best-selling EV maker in the U.S. last year, holding 5.6 percent of the market. Tesla was first with 59.1 percent, and Ford was second with 6.5 percent, according to CleanTechnica data.
Although GM has its place on the podium, it, like Ford, has truly struggled to make a considerable dent in Tesla’s dominating market share. Ford decided to prioritize hybrids over EVs in an announcement earlier this year, shifting its focus as customers are more interested in the best of both ICE and EV engines.
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