Wireless helps GM batteries boost range
General Motors is moving fast to turn itself into an electric-vehicle powerhouse. Fresh on the heels of its Ultium announcements — basically five interchangeable drive units and three separate motors to power a variety of vehicles — GM has announced that when its ultimate battery/electric motor combination is revealed, it will have a range of 724 kilometres.
That’s mainly because it has reduced the weight of its batteries by some 25 per cent and reduced their volume by a commensurate amount. And Fiona Meyer-teruel, the Ultium division’s battery electronics and communications systems lead, said the improvements “extend charging range by creating lighter vehicles overall and opening extra room for more batteries.”
That’s the result, Meyer-teruel said, of the company’s industry-first wireless battery management system (WBMS) that lets the onboard controller communicate with individual battery cells — monitoring their condition and temperature, etc. in real time — wirelessly. Reducing the wiring by up to 90 per cent not only results in that dramatic weight reduction, but also makes over-the-air updates even easier.
Pablo Valencia Jr., senior manager of battery life cycle and charging infrastructure, said 100 per cent of all the materials — including cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, copper, manganese and aluminum — can be recycled, and that an incredible 95 per cent can eventually be reused in future batteries.