GM Drops Ultium Name From Batteries and EV Tech

by Carl Malek | October 9, 2024

GM reveals it’s dropping the Ultium name from its batteries and EV tech as the company adapts to changing market conditions in the EV market and makes adjustments to its broader strategy.

General Motors revealed it plans to drop the Ultium name from its modular EV platform and the battery technology that underpins the company’s EV models.

General Motors made plenty of headlines several years ago when it announced that its then-new Ultium modular platform and battery technology would help underpin a new generation of EV models as the company attempted to reshape the way that consumers thought about EVs while also preparing for an all-electric vehicle lineup that was supposed to eventually replace all of their ICE-powered models.

However, things have not quite gone according to plan with GM being forced to adapt to rapid changes in the EV market including a drop in demand for EV models. These adjustments include focusing on re-entering the plug-in hybrid market and re-evaluating how it’s approaching other aspects of its green vehicle plans. However, the biggest surprise came when GM chose to confirm that it’s dropping the Ultium name from its EV technology moving forward.

Sudden shift comes after years of promoting Ultium to the masses

The Ultium moniker was a key marketing tool for the first wave of EVs the company released including the Hummer EV.

GM’s decision to drop the Ultium moniker comes after the company spent considerable time and money promoting it to consumers. The Ultium name was not only used on the modular platform and battery technology that underpin its growing lineup of EV vehicles but also on EV charging stations and production-related projects like the “Ultium Cells” joint venture plants that it runs with LG Energy Solutions. The Ultium name itself will continue to be used in certain capacities but it will no longer define the vehicle side of the business.

“As GM continues to expand its EV business, the company is no longer branding its electric vehicle architecture, battery and cells, or EV components with the Ultium name, starting in North America,” the company said in a statement.

GM has been recently rethinking its EV battery strategy as the market around it began to rapidly change, with the company bringing in several outside executives including two veterans from Tesla, JP Clausen and Kurt Kelty with Kelty serving as the vice president of GM’s battery division while Clausen leads GM manufacturing. This infusion of new talent has also brought new ideas into the company and some of this fresh thinking has allowed GM to rethink the way it’s handling the EV market. The company also confirmed that it’s moving away from its original pouch cells and into other battery types and chemistries.

“We’re moving from a single-source, single-form factor, single-chemistry to a multi-chemistry, multi-form factor, multi-supplier strategy,” Kelty revealed. “What we’re going to do going forward is really optimize for each vehicle.”

GM says there’s light at the end of the tunnel

GM says that it will reduce its EV-related losses in 2025 with part of this being achieved by increased sales of volume models like the Equinox EV.

Despite the decision to drop the Ultium name from its battery and EV technology, the company says that it’s still on track to achieve other aspects of its plan. That includes lower EV losses in 2025 and increased growth in EV sales. At the moment, sales are growing with the company saying EVs have seen a 60% year-over-year increase in EV sales during the third quarter with 32,100 units sold. However, they are not growing at the pace GM wants with EVs only accounting for 4.9% of the company’s total sales.

This sluggish pace was reflected in GM revising its EV sales target with CEO Mary Barra saying the revised target is now 200,000 EVs. That’s 100,000 less than the 300,000 the company quoted previously. While the company will still eat a projected operating loss of between $2 to $4 billion for EVs. The company hopes that some of the hurt will be blunted by increased sales with the company confirming it expects prices to soften in 2025 due to the arrival of models that will have higher sales margins. They include the Chevrolet Equinox EV and the Cadillac Optiq which will be targeting a wider pool of customers in their respective segments.