GM in talks with CATL to license cheaper LFP EV battery tech and joint North American plant

Published

12 months ago

March 28, 2024

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General Motors (GM) is reportedly in talks with battery giant CATL to license its cheaper LFP battery tech. The plans could include a new joint North American plant to produce the new batteries.

After software glitches, freight delays, and other issues caused GM to miss its EV sales target in 2023, the company believes “production hell” is behind it.

CEO Mary Barra claims 2024 will be “the year of execution” as the automaker looks to get back on track.

GM is ramping up production of its Ultium-based models after it “turned the corner” at its battery factory in Detroit. With several new Chevy EVs rolling out this year, including the Blazer EV, Equinox EV, and Silverado EV, GM looks to build 200,000 to 300,000 Ultium EVs this year.

That would be around 20 times more than the fewer than 14,000 units sold last year. GM is also retiring its best-selling Chevy Bolt, at least in its current form.

With 62,045 Chevy Bolts sold last year, the electric car accounted for over 81% of GM’s EV sales. Barra confirmed GM will launch an Ultium-based Bolt EV next year.

It will offer “an even better driving, charging, and ownership experience.” According to Barra, it will be the first Ultium EV in North America to feature LFP batteries.

GM looks to CATL for cheaper LFP battery tech

According to a new report from CarNewsChina, GM is in talks with CATL to license its LFP battery tech. The plans also reportedly include building a joint North American factory to make the batteries.

Details are scarce, but the plant will likely be in the US or Mexico. It will be similar to the agreement between CATL and rival Ford. Ford announced a $3.5 billion investment last February to build a new LFP plant (BlueOval Battery Park Michigan).

Chevy-Blazer-EV-prices — 2024 Chevy Blazer EV (Source: GM)

The plant is expected to begin producing LFP batteries in 2026 to power Ford’s next-gen EVs. Ford reached an agreement with CATL to license its LFP battery tech. The American automaker will manufacture the cells with knowledge from CATL.

Under the GM deal, CATL would be responsible for building the production lines, supply chains, and other equipment while GM handles the CapEx.

GM's-new-Bolt-EV — 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Redline Edition (Source: GM)

GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the new Bolt EV will save the company billions by using LFP batteries.

Both automakers look to sidestep federal regulations requiring EV batteries to be produced in North America to qualify for a tax credit.

Electrek’s Take

If true, the news could be significant. For one, South Korean and Japanese battery makers dominate the North American market, with LG, Samsung SDI, SK, and Panasonic controlling 80% of the market.

However, these battery makers have largely missed the opportunity with LFP batteries while China’s CATL and BYD took control of the market. LFP batteries are cheaper to produce which could give automakers an advantage going forward.

Several automakers, including Ford and GM, have announced plans to introduce more affordable EVs as demand for lower-cost electric options climbs.

The Late Post claims CATL has reduced the cost of its batteries to 400 yuan ($55) per kWh, compared to 600 yuan ($83) per kWh with NCM batteries. This could translate to significant savings as American automakers look to cut costs and break even with EVs.

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Environment

The X Games just banned electric motorcycles for being too good

Published

49 mins ago

March 14, 2025

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The X Games just banned electric motorcycles for being too good

In yet another new example of an industry defying progress out of preference for “the old ways”, X Games riders and fans are going to be seeing a lot fewer electric motorcycles in the air this year. That’s after a new rule change has quietly banned electric motorcycles from competing. And the reasoning? It’s not fair to the gassers who are trying to keep up.

That’s not hyperbole; that’s the reasoning given by the X Games leadership.

The X Games is an annual extreme sports competition featuring top athletes in events like skateboarding, BMX, motocross, and snowboarding. Known for high-flying tricks and intense competition, it showcases the best in action sports while pushing the limits of what’s possible.

Think of it like the Olympics of dirt bikes, so to speak.

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As electric motorcycles and dirt bikes have become more popular, riders have discovered that the new technology has opened the door to trick innovation and stunt riding at a level not previously possible with internal combustion engine (ICE) dirt bikes.

Powerful electric dirt bikes like the Stark Varg are often lighter and faster than their gasser counterparts, and their lower weight distribution allows them to rotate and perform tricks in ways that only electrics can achieve.

In the face of that new innovation, the X Games has responded not by encouraging their use in an effort to encourage new stunts, but instead by banning them altogether.

In a statement provided to RideApart, an X Games representative explained that the move was designed to create a “level playing field” so that gassers could keep up.

“At X Games, we are committed to preserving the core of action sports while continuously evaluating new technologies. Our current competition formats are designed around the performance and characteristics of traditional gas-powered bikes, which remain the global standard for elite competition. While we recognize the advancements in electric bike technology, our focus is on maintaining a level playing field and delivering the best experience for both our athletes and fans. We’ll continue to monitor the evolution of the sport and assess how new innovations fit within X Games competitions.”

As RideApart rightly pointed out, that answer seems to fly in the face of years of technological innovation that has helped individual athletes push their sports further. X Games competitors rely on their tools, whether a dirt bike, a skateboard, or a mountain bike, to perform mind-blowing feats, and advancements in those tools have allowed each sport to progress to increasingly gravity-defying stunts.

In fact, journalist Jonathan Klein’s response to the X Games statement just about sums up the ridiculousness of the situation.

“What we likely have here are a bunch of cry-baby competitors that don’t like the Starks and other EV dirt bikes allowing riders to up the ante to the next level. To go harder than before. To take the sport of freestyle motocross to the next level just like Deegan and Pastrana and Carmichael and McGrath and Hart and Bartram did before them. And these same current riders got the folks at the X Games to capitulate to their crocodile tears.”

Ultimately, the X Games have simply confirmed what we’ve all suspected: Electric motorcycles are superior machines, and the old guard doesn’t like that their gas bikes can’t keep up anymore. Period.

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Environment

Oil, dollars, and debt: How safe is the Middle East from the global trade war?

Published

3 hours ago

March 14, 2025

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Oil, dollars, and debt: How safe is the Middle East from the global trade war?

The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Nikada | E+ | Getty Images

The global trade war triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump shows no sign of abating, with tit-for-tat tariffs hammering major economies, tanking stock markets and dimming growth prospects.

The economies concerned – North America, the European Union, and China – face highly uncertain futures. But for the Middle East, which has so far been spared of additional levies, there are still reasons to worry – as well as opportunities to take advantage of.

Direct impact from tariffs, like the U.S. levies on steel and aluminum imports, have just a minimal impact on the Middle East, economists say. The Gulf region, for instance, accounted for roughly 16% of U.S. aluminum imports in 2024, led by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Standard Chartered MENA Economist Carla Slim told CNBC. While those sectors may be affected, analysts say, the hit will be minor.

But the blow to growth from a trade war is likely to hurt the price of oil, the mainstay of the region’s economy. There are also immediate costs to countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain.

Oil, dollars and debt

The U.S. dollar has been selling off since the start of the year, making imports for countries with dollar pegs more expensive – a challenge for a region highly dependent on goods from abroad.

Trade tariffs implemented by the U.S. typically make the greenback stronger over time, however – if that happens, oil becomes more expensive, as the commodity is traded in dollars. This would give an initial boost to oil-exporting Middle East countries.

But bad news may lie ahead as oil demand slows due to weakened global trade and shipping.

An oil drilling rig stands on one of the Causeway islands in the Manifa offshore oilfield, operated by Saudi Aramco, in Manifa, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“The macro outlook for MENA (Middle East and North Africa) is set to be weighed down by global tariff uncertainty indirectly through oil prices, to the extent that tariff and macro uncertainties continue to be a drag to Brent oil prices,” Slim told CNBC.

Since the oil price shock of 2014, however, many of those economies have implemented structural reforms and diversification programs in a bid to lessen their dependence on oil revenue.

“Strengthening domestic demand resilience continues to be the best lever to immunize local economies from global external shocks, in our view,” Slim said.

Despite diversification efforts, however, oil “still accounts for the largest single share of income,” said Edward Bell, acting chief economist at Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD.

“For an economy like the UAE that is highly open to trade and acts as a global trade facilitator through extensive infrastructure and logistics links, a drop in global trade will also be an externally imposed headwind to growth,” Bell noted.

Most vulnerable

A stronger greenback also means that dollar-denominated debt is more expensive to service. For Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, which have particularly high levels of external debt, this is a major concern and could cause acute economic pain.

Jordan is the most vulnerable country in the region to the tariff wars due to its high export dependency on the U.S., according to James Swanston, senior emerging markets economist at London-based Capital Economics. Nearly 25% of Jordan’s exports — mainly textiles and jewelry — go to American markets.

“Jordan’s economy is the most exposed to potential tariffs,” Swanston told CNBC.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein (L) in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Andrew Harnik | Getty Images

But the country may find some reprieve in its diplomatic ties to Washington – “a carve-out was secured with regard to U.S. foreign assistance following the suspension of USAID” because of Jordan’s strategic importance in U.S. foreign policy, Swanston noted. “This might suggest that Jordan could negotiate fairly easily out of tariff impacts.”

New trade corridors?

One significant and positive change for the MENA region brought about by the tariffs is the push for more geographically streamlined trade corridors.

“For MENA, we think this will add impetus to fast-growth trade corridors, such as the GCC-Asia trade corridor which has experienced long-term growth of 15% and stands to benefit most,” said Standard Chartered’s Slim.

She sees rising trade volumes ushering in a parallel increase in financial and investment flows between the Gulf states and Asia in particular, “as Asian businesses set up presence in the Middle East or expand existing businesses, adding impetus to the organic growth we’ve observed since [China’s] Belt and Road Initiative.”

Environment

Wheel-E Podcast: Clip BOLT e-bike kit, Rad CEO left, fancy Orbea unveil, more

Published

3 hours ago

March 14, 2025

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Wheel-E Podcast: Clip BOLT e-bike kit, Rad CEO left, fancy Orbea unveil, more

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes a new e-bike it from Clip, Orbea’s unveiling of the Denna e-bike, our Velotric Nomad 2 review, Rad Power Bikes’ CEO has stepped down, Segway and Apollo are shipping new scooters, and more.

The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

After the show ends, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

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We also have a Patreon if you want to help us to avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 6:00 a.m. ET (or the video after 7:00 a.m. ET):

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