IT News on September 30th: On the 29th local time, General Motors announced that the next generation of lithium-rich manganese-based (LMR) batteries will be mass-produced at the joint venture factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, which is operated jointly with (LG) New Energy.

General Motors stated that the plant will begin renovations by the end of this year and will be completed in 2028. By then, the plant will become the world's first to mass-produce lithium-rich manganese-based square battery cells.

According to reports by foreign media insideevs, as expected by General Motors, the new batteries will enable vehicles to have a range that is 33% greater than that of current lithium iron phosphate batteries. Lithium iron phosphate batteries hold a dominant position in the Chinese market and are also the low-cost battery solution favored by the entire industry. General Motors will use lithium-rich manganese-based batteries in full-size pickups and SUV; under EPA driving conditions, the range will exceed 644 km.

From a fundamental principle perspective, lithium-rich manganese-based batteries are similar to traditional ternary lithium-ion cells, but the proportion of cobalt and nickel is much lower. These two materials are more polluting to extract and also have higher costs. Lithium-rich manganese-based batteries significantly increase the proportion of manganese. General Motors states that manganese is easier to obtain, and its extraction and processing costs are also lower.

This is also one of the reasons why General Motors believes that lithium-rich manganese-based batteries can provide a longer range at a cost close to that of lithium iron phosphate batteries. Its electric vehicles with the longest range will still use ternary lithium batteries, while lithium-rich manganese-based batteries are positioned between ternary lithium batteries and low-cost lithium iron phosphate batteries.

IT Home has learned from reports that the first batch of electric vehicles equipped with lithium-rich manganese-based batteries is expected to be launched in 2028. By then, it will also be tested whether such batteries can provide a substantial improvement in driving economy compared to the currently available models of large SUV and pickups.