GM Announces Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center
Photo: General Motors
General Motors has revealed that it is adding the new Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center to its Global Technical Center located in Warren, Michigan. This facility will focus on developing and commercializing electric vehicle batteries.
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What is GM planning for the Wallace Center?
The Global Technical Center already has a couple of different battery development sites. The GM Research and Development Chemical and Materials’ Subsystems Lab develops batteries such as ones with lithium-metal anodes. The Estes Battery Systems Lab tests the durability of batteries at the pack, module, and cell levels. It is North America’s largest battery validation lab.
Soon, the new Wallace Center will allow GM to add batteries with longer ranges and lower costs to its EVs. It will build off the work that has already been done at GM Research and Development, making it possible for GM to reach its goal of reducing Ultium battery costs by 60 percent.
The Wallace Center will also speed up the creation of silicon and lithium-metal batteries. For instance, it will have the capability to make prototype lithium-metal battery cells for vehicles. In addition, it will accelerate new production methods, which battery cell manufacturing plants in Ohio and Tennessee will then be able to adopt.
GM plans to include a material synthesis lab, cell formation chambers, cell test chambers, an electrolyte production lab, a slurry mixing and processing lab, a coating room, and a forensics lab in the Wallace Center. The automaker named the facility after Bill Wallace, who was a director of Battery Systems and Electrification. His team designed battery systems for the Chevy Bolt EV, Malibu Hybrid, Volt 1, and Volt 2.
The Wallace Center is under construction right now and should be ready to open in the middle of 2022. Then, GM expects it will make its first prototype cells during the fourth quarter that year.
Amanda Drago lives in West Chester, Ohio with her wonderful family, which includes her adorable dog, Coco. Amanda recently graduated from Miami University with degrees in both marketing and creative writing. However, if she was ever forced to change career paths, she imagines that she would train dogs for movies. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and watching Netflix. She also has a special place in her heart for theatre and purchases tickets to as many shows as she can. See more articles by Amanda.