For decades, battery progress has been defined by familiar performance metrics such as better energy density, higher power, and faster charging.
Those headline metrics still matter, especially in electric vehicles. But as electricity demand rises and data centers consume a growing share of U.S. power, the battery conversation is changing.
When talking to a utility, a hyperscaler, or other power providers in need of energy storage solutions, their priority is not maximizing range or minimizing weight. It is delivering reliable, affordable power over long periods of time in real-world conditions.
That is what makes sodium-ion battery technology so compelling, and it is why GM is developing next-generation sodium-ion battery cells purpose-built for grid-scale storage, in partnership with Peak Energy and backed by a strategic investment from its GM Ventures arm.
Matching Chemistry to Application
At GM, the core philosophy is matching the right chemistry to the right job and then executing better than anyone else. GM starts with what customers need, then engineers backward from there. That is how GM thinks about vehicles, how it is thinking about the grid, and why it believes sodium-ion will be a defining chemistry for grid-scale energy storage systems in the years ahead.
At a foundational level, a sodium-ion battery works much like a lithium-ion battery. It stores and releases energy through movement of ions during charging and discharging. Sodium and lithium sit in the same column of the periodic table, so they share important chemical similarities.
But they do not behave in exactly the same way, and those differences create a meaningful opportunity to design batteries with a performance profile tailored for a different class of applications.
Reduced System Complexity Through Robust Cells
In grid-scale stationary storage systems, if GM can make the cell safer and more robust, it can remove complexity elsewhere in the system. That can translate into a quieter, simpler, lower-maintenance energy storage system for the customer.
Compared with incumbent chemistries, sodium-ion can perform across a wider range of temperatures and for more cycles. That means sodium-ion-powered energy storage systems have the potential to operate without active cooling and with much less system complexity.
Active cooling requires more hardware, more maintenance, more parasitic energy losses, more noise, and more opportunities for failure—all of which can drive costs higher over time.
Peak Energy’s energy storage platform is already demonstrating how sodium-ion’s strengths can translate into lower costs and greater reliability. For stationary storage operators, that is a meaningful advantage. They are looking for dependable assets that are safe, require less intervention, and achieve lower total operating costs—exactly the kind of performance profile that makes sodium-ion well suited to grid-scale applications.
Development Headroom and Material Abundance
Sodium-ion does not have to do everything on day one. What excites GM about sodium-ion is how much headroom remains in its development. LFP has improved significantly over the past 25 years, but as it has matured, those gains are beginning to plateau. Sodium-ion, like LMR, is still early in its development curve, which gives more room to drive meaningful improvements as the technology matures.
Sodium is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and that abundance creates a path toward battery systems built from more accessible materials with greater long-term resilience. Because sodium-ion cells share important architectural similarities with lithium-ion, GM can apply the battery expertise it has built in cell design, prototyping, and industrialization to help move this chemistry forward. GM’s next-generation sodium-ion cell development will drive energy density higher, with potential to outperform more mature chemistries, including LFP, over time.
Distinctive U.S.-Based Development Approach
GM is building on battery know-how in the United States for a grid market that needs durable, cost-effective storage at scale. It begins in Warren, Michigan, where GM has built a centralized battery R&D engine. This is where GM advances chemistries like LMR for EVs, and it is now extending this from the vehicle to the grid.
Every improvement strengthens the development stack supporting both EVs and energy storage. This includes prototyping sodium-ion cells purpose-built for stationary storage this year at GM’s Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center.
Near-Term Grid Solutions Portfolio
While investing in the next generation of storage, GM is also supporting near-term grid demand with a broad portfolio of storage solutions. GM is moving fast through its Ultium Cells joint venture with LG Energy Solution. Ultium Cells will begin producing LFP batteries within this month to serve LG Energy Solution’s commercial energy storage business, showing how GM is leveraging existing footprint and manufacturing know-how to deliver energy storage solutions on the grid quickly.
Repurposed GM EV batteries are already working today in energy storage systems. Together with Redwood Materials, GM is deploying roughly 10,000 GM batteries into energy infrastructure, including Crusoe’s AI data center in Sparks, Nevada.
Starting next year, GM also plans to deploy second-life battery packs at one of its own Michigan plants, where roughly 100 packs are expected to provide 7.2 MWh of dispatchable energy and save more than $3 million in local electricity costs over the life of the installation. GM is the first automaker to partner with Redwood on the full battery lifecycle—from recycling manufacturing scrap to now deploying second-life batteries as energy storage systems.
GM has built deep battery expertise in the U.S., along with the talent, technical capability, and infrastructure to lead. Now it is extending that leadership beyond the vehicle and into the electrical grid itself.