Ultium Cells plans LMR battery cells in Tennessee for GM EVs

In Spring Hill, Tennessee, a battery plant of 1,200 workers is about to change what it makes. Ultium Cells LLC, the joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, has announced plans to produce lithium manganese rich (LMR) prismatic battery cells at its site just outside Nashville. Prismatic cells are the rectangular format; the chemistry is the part that matters here.

Today's most affordable electric-car batteries mostly use lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, a low-cost technology that stores less energy for its weight than the high-nickel chemistries GM uses for its longest-range vehicles. LMR sits between the two. According to GM, it offers 33% greater energy density than LFP, while costing about the same to make. GM says high-nickel batteries will keep providing the highest range in its lineup, and that LMR lets it offer lower costs and better performance than the cheapest chemistries without giving up on quality.

Ultium Cells says it expects to be the first manufacturer in the world to produce this technology commercially, which would put GM at the front of the market for future electric vehicles. The plant will also be able to make cells in several chemistries and form factors, so the same site can adjust its output to different vehicles and applications. The company presents this as a question of American competitiveness in batteries, a claim that the announcement does not test against any rival's timetable.

What changes for buyers and workers is more concrete, but it arrives slowly. Construction and upgrades start later this year and are expected to finish in 2028, the date when the expansion should begin to create its 500 new jobs, on top of the 1,200 employees already at the site. For drivers, the promise is a battery that could push range or cut costs compared with LFP, but the announcement names no model, no launch date and no price. Those will depend on the vehicles GM chooses to build with these cells, and on whether the figures hold outside the company's own measurements.

For now, what Spring Hill has is a plan: a new chemistry, a precise energy-density claim, and a completion date three years away. The 33% figure comes from GM and Ultium Cells, and no independent test is cited. Those are the points that will decide whether the announcement becomes a product.