DETROIT — General Motors is in the early stages of developing next-generation battery cells that the company believes can reduce U.S. dependence on China, while boosting domestically sourced materials.
"We're developing a supply chain such that, two years from now, three years from now, it will be domestic," Kurt Kelty, GM vice president of battery and sustainability, told CNBC during an exclusive interview. "That's what we're aiming for — when we get into market, we've got a domestic source for that."
Kelty was referring mainly to battery cells that the automaker expects to use in energy storage systems, or ESS, which are stationary devices for homes and businesses, including data centers. But the company plans to similarly prioritize domestic battery cell production for its future all-electric vehicles, a spokesperson reaffirmed to CNBC.
Kelty's comments came days before GM's crosstown rival Ford Motor fielded criticism by the Trump administration for its ties to Chinese companies, including for domestic battery cell production.
For ESS, GM has partnered with Denver-based startup Peak Energy to develop sodium-ion battery cells. The idea is to lower the need for materials that China dominates — such as lithium and ferrous sulfate, a byproduct of titanium production — and instead, use domestic-made batteries utilizing more prevalent materials in the U.S., such as sodium from soda ash.
GM is working on a variety of battery chemistries for different applications of ESS as well as its EVs. Much like baking, each ingredient and the amount put into a battery cell can change the outcome of the product. In the case of battery cells, that can mean differences in performance, cost and stability.
GM expects to launch commercial production of sodium-ion battery cells with Peak around 2029. In the meantime, it's producing other chemistries for ESS and EVs that use undisclosed amounts of materials from China.
Most battery cells currently rely on raw materials from China. The International Energy Agency reports the country produces about 85% of the world's EV battery cathode active material and more than 90% of anode active material, leading to an 80% control of battery production.
For example, China largely controls the sourcing and production of lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries through its supply chains. GM currently manufactures LFP cells with its partner LG Energy Solution in the U.S. for ESS, while Ford has licensed technology from China's CATL for LFP battery cells for its EVs and ESS plans.
"It's a really good story, because you've got the resources [in the U.S.] that you can keep it totally domestic," Kelty said. "It's going to take some time to build this industry up, but the potential for sodium-ion is just much greater than LFP."
The Trump administration has placed particular focus on building up the U.S. battery supply chain and reducing its reliance on China.
And, earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed "profound concern" over Ford's China ties, specifically citing the CATL licensing. That's despite Ford being the top-producing automaker of vehicles in the U.S.
Kelty, days earlier, said of Ford, "they're following a different path."
"We think it's more valuable to develop this all domestically, take advantage of domestic supply chains, and develop a technology that's actually better than the incumbent technology," said Kelty, a former battery executive with U.S. EV leader Tesla.
'Leapfrog' China tech?
Sam Abuelsamid, a battery expert and vice president of market research at Telemetry, noted it will likely take years to domesticate a battery supply chain.
At the same time, China continues to develop and produce new types of chemistries, including sodium-ion.
"There's no reason why the LFP materials couldn't also be produced here," Abuelsamid said. "There's ways to do that, but ... the sodium-ion would be even cheaper and easier to do."
Kelty numerous times said GM hopes to "leapfrog" China's battery technologies, noting that competing directly with Chinese supply chains or mimicking what that market has already established would be difficult.
"The better thing to do is try to leapfrog, come up with a different technology that's actually better that we can actually source here," Kelty said.
Kelty said he views sodium-ion as the best solution for ESS, because its chemistry and temperature tolerance allow for the cells to function without active cooling — a major source of cost and complexity associated with ESS. That improvement means lowering the cost of ownership for energy storage, he said.
The Detroit automaker is spending $900 million on new battery lab facilities at its global tech campus in suburban Detroit. That includes a more-than-500,000-square-foot facility for prototyping manufacturing of cells that's set to begin operations later this year.
Still, that funding amount is small compared with what would be needed to substantially loosen China's grip on the industry.
"We are purposely going down the path of having American-developed technology," Kelty said. "Batteries are really critical for a lot of different areas of of our economy here."
