GM Mulls Letting Startups Into Its $145M Battery Lab
GM is weighing whether to open its soon-to-be-finished battery development center in Warren, Michigan to outside startups, giving smaller players a shot at manufacturing expertise they could never afford to build themselves.
The idea came up at the Battery Show in Detroit on Oct. 13, when Kurt Kelty, GM's vice president of battery and sustainability, fielded a question on how the United States might sustain battery innovation while EV demand stalls and investment dries up. Kelty said the company has held internal discussions about letting startups use the facility to learn battery cell manufacturing processes.
The pitch is straightforward enough: cell manufacturing requires serious capital, and a shared facility would hand smaller firms capabilities that otherwise cost a fortune to stand up.
Before anyone drafts a press release, Kelty stressed no decision has been made. GM spokesman Stuart Fowle said the automaker is still concentrating on the projects already in motion.
The building itself is real. GM's $145 million battery prototype facility sits at the Global Technical Center in Warren, with construction expected to wrap in December of 2026. Its purpose is to speed up development of next-generation chemistries, specifically lithium manganese-rich (LMR) and sodium-ion.
GM has already lined up partners for both tracks. The automaker previously teamed with California grid-storage firm Peak Energy on developing and deploying sodium-ion cells meant for stationary grid use.
LMR is the bigger prize. GM has called the technology a "big step" for its EV portfolio. Paul Jacobson, the company's chief financial officer, said last month that the automaker is aiming for the 2028 calendar year to put its new LMR battery technology into production.
Jacobson was blunt about where the money is going. "We're still investing in EVs, but it's not about expanding the portfolio per se," he said. "It's really about going after the architecture, going after the makeup, going after the battery cell technology to bring down the cost of EVs."
[Images: Ghafari & Associates, General Motors]
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This is a smart move and I think a necessary one to promote the survival of the company long term.
GM themselves can’t innovate because they move slower than the market. Some startups could grind 12 hour days and create innovation fast enough for GM to effectively leverage it commercially.
Does the new Tesla Roadster use batteries? Or diesel?
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