DETROIT – General Motors is investing $60 million in a Silicon Valley-based battery materials company to help GM bring more affordable electric vehicles to market faster.
GM on Wednesday announced the stake in Mitra Chem, an AI-enabled battery materials innovation company. It is part of a Series B financing, which further establishes a startup after it has obtained its first-round seed funds. Mitra Chem will help GM develop advanced iron-based cathode active materials, like lithium manganese iron phosphate, to power affordable EV batteries that will be compatible with GM’s Ultium EV propulsion system.
GM’s investment is aimed to help Mitra Chem build its current operations and get innovative battery materials to market faster.
“This is a strategic investment that will further help reinforce GM’s efforts in EV batteries, accelerate our work on affordable battery chemistries … and support our efforts to build a U.S.-focused battery supply chain,” Gil Golan, GM’s vice present of technology acceleration and commercialization, said in a statement.
The GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, as well as the Cadillac Lyriq, use GM’s new Ultium propulsion system. The Lyriq has a starting price of $61,795, lower than the $98,400 starting price of the 2023 Hummer. GM has blamed a slow ramp-up of the Lyriq and Hummer on battery module availability. GM gets the battery cells from Ultium Cells LLC in northeast Ohio, a battery plant it opened last year as part of a joint venture with LG Energy Solution.
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