General Motors (GM) and South Korean advanced EV battery materials company Posco Future M revealed an additional investment in its new cathode factory in Ontario, Canada, now exceeding $1 billion.
GM plans to enhance CAM supply in North America
The new funding will help increase Cathode active material (CAM) production and the precursor materials (pCAM) needed to produce it in North America.
GM announced plans for the new factory last March, with the initial investment expected to be around $400 million (C$500 million). The facility is designed to manufacture cathode active materials for GM’s Ultium batteries, the backbone of its EV strategy.
CAM is the key raw material consisting of lithium and a secondary metal (or metals) that drive a significant portion of the output and around 40% of the costs of EV batteries. The two primary EV battery cathodes today are nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP).
Doug Parks, GM’s executive VP of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain, commented on the new investment, saying:
Increasing CAM production capacity and adding pCAM to our joint venture is another significant step in building a more secure and sustainable North America-focused supply chain to support GM’s fast-growing EV production needs.
With plans for battery cell production to reach at least 135 GWh, or enough to power 1.3 million EVs annually between its three Ultium Cell plants, GM is building out its entire battery supply chain, including raw material recovery.
Vertically integrating the EV battery supply chain
GM revealed its joint venture with LG Energy Solutions in 2019 to produce battery cells for electric vehicles based on its Ultium platform.
Ultium Cells began production in the US at its first plant in Warren, Ohio, last August, with plans for its second in Spring Hill, Tennessee, to start operations next year. A third, in Lansing, Michigan, is expected to open in early 2025, with a total capacity between the three planning to reach at least 135 GWh.
CAM will play a critical role in ensuring GM has the raw materials to ramp production and hits its goal of building 1 million EVs by 2025. POSCO Future M president Kim Joon-Hyung says, “We are experiencing rapid growth of EV battery materials across North America,” adding:
I believe our joint venture will fortify its position in the secondary battery material industry with this proactive decision to increase CAM production and bring pCAM production to North America. POSCO Future M’s advanced technology and experience is supported by our expanding partnership with GM. We are aiming to play a key role in the eco-friendly mobility market with our products.
The Ultium CAM joint venture will help support the production of around 360,000 Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Buick, and BrightDrop EVs between 2025 and 2030 in North America.
GM has several highly anticipated Ultium EV launches this year, including the following:
Silverado EV: Deliveries to begin later in the second quarter, with production ramping in 2H 2023
Blazer EV: Launching this summer
Equinox EV: Launching this fall
After selling over 20,000 EVs for the first time in a quarter in Q1, GM lifted guidance with plans to produce 50,000 electric models in North America in the first half of 2023 and 100,000 in the second half of the year.
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GE Vernova’s onshore wind business announced that it received orders in 2024 to repower over 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind turbines in the US.
Wind energy repowering is all about breathing new life into older turbines. By swapping out aging parts like turbines, blades, and nacelles for the latest tech, wind farms see significant boosts in efficiency, power capacity, and overall lifespan. Other infrastructure and control systems can also get a second life.
Adding new components to existing infrastructure and grid connections means it’s less expensive to extend the life of the wind farm with fewer resources. New components make the turbines less prone to breakdowns which means less maintenance, so there are fewer operational costs.
The repowering projects for which GE Vernova received orders will use nacelles and drive trains that it manufactures in its Pensacola, Florida, factory.
“As the United States works to meet the doubling of projected demand for more energy, repower projects like these help US workers in US factories take advantage of what we already have, where we already have it,” said Matt Lynch, general manager of Repower at GE Vernova.
The orders were booked between the first and fourth quarters of 2024. GE Vernova’s wind repower projects are expected to come online between 2024 and 2027.
GE Vernova’s onshore wind business has a total installed base of approximately 56,000 turbines and nearly 120 GW of installed capacity worldwide.
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Kia’s official first-party NACS adapters are now ready to ship out, but owners will have to wait to use them on Tesla Superchargers until later this quarter.
The rollout of Supercharger access to non-Tesla brands is hitting a fever pitch this year, with several brands added to the “coming soon” list, and even beyond that, VW and Honda have both made their own announcements that access is coming soon.
But for most vehicles, charging on Superchargers will require an adapter for the time being, as most brands aren’t adding native NACS ports to their vehicles until a future date (the current exceptions are the 2025 Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 which have native ports).
Each manufacturer is dealing with adapter rollouts separately, and Kia’s ready to announce that their adapters are ready to go.
Kia told us today that shipments of first-party adapters are currently en route to dealerships, and certain owners will be getting a notification soon to claim their adapter.
In Kia’s previous announcement about adapter availability, it said that any 2024 or 2025 EV6 or EV9 owners who took delivery after September 4 would get a free NACS adapter. Those owners should receive a push notification soon in their Kia Connect app through which they can claim their adapter.
For other owners, adapters will be available from Kia dealers for $249, which is roughly in line with the average cost we’ve been seeing for these adapters. Dealers should be getting the adapters any day now.
However, these adapters will be of limited usefulness for the next several weeks. You’ll be able to use them to charge at Tesla destination chargers, or any home charger with a Tesla/NACS plug on it, but Supercharger access still requires a handshake between the car and the charging network, and that handshake is currently disabled.
Originally, Kias were going to gain access on January 15th, but that was pushed back until the “back end of this quarter.” Some owners found out a loophole to allow for charging on the network, but that loophole was closed just yesterday.
As a result, Kia is also including “definitive instructions” on how to use the adapters along with each shipment. It wants to ensure that everyone is using them properly, especially given the recent back-and-forth about, uh, unsanctioned methods to access the network before official availability.
Kia’s EV6 with the native NACS port has also taken longer to arrive than Hyundai’s 2025 Ioniq 5. Ioniq 5s are already shipping (and can even charge faster than Teslas at a Supercharger, a feat the EV6 should also achieve), but EV6s haven’t yet hit dealerships. They should be on around the same timeline as Supercharger access, and ought to be available in the back half of this quarter.
So… Kia fans will still have to wait a little bit, but at least you’ll have the adapters ready to go for when the floodgates open later this quarter.
If you’re looking to buy one of the fastest-charging EVs on the road today, use our link to check local dealers and get in line for when they get the new 2025 Kia EV6s in stock.
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EV charger manufacturer Kempower and Ziegler Energy Solutions have paired up to deliver EV fast charging infrastructure for commercial fleets.
To put it simply, Finland and US-based Kempower brings DC fast chargers to the table, and Ziegler Energy Solutions’ (ZES’s) specialty is infrastructure, energy efficiency, and operational flexibility, along with sales and service.
“As businesses and municipalities increasingly transition to electric fleets, reliable and adaptable EV charging infrastructure with the highest uptime is paramount,” said Troy Monson, general manager of Ziegler Energy Solutions. “Partnering with Kempower enables us to deliver scalable, user-friendly solutions that support our customers’ electrification goals and operational needs.”
ZES, which is now a Kempower Certified Partner, helps fleet operators address challenges like high mileage, uptime demands, and energy cost management using its EV fleet planning tools that simulate real-world scenarios like duty cycles, charging schedules, and energy needs. It also has a leasing program, and integrates solar and battery storage into fast charging infrastructure.
This means Kempower can now offer its DC fast chargers to fleet operators with ZES’s support, ensuring uptime and reliability.
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