No automaker outside China has announced plans to build sodium-ion cells — until now. GM is developing a new sodium-ion battery chemistry tailored for grid-scale energy storage, partnering with startup Peak Energy to deliver cells that don’t need cooling or fire suppression systems.
Why Grid-Scale Needs a Different Chemistry
Lithium-ion works fine for EVs, but stationary storage has different constraints: cost per kilowatt-hour, cycle life, and safety matter more than energy density. Sodium-ion swaps out lithium and cobalt for abundant sodium, making cells cheaper and less prone to overheating. The tradeoff? They’re heavier and bulkier — perfectly acceptable when bolting batteries to a concrete pad.
Peak Energy already designed a grid-scale energy storage system that exploits sodium-ion’s safety margin. No cooling system, no fire suppression. “Eliminate the part, eliminate the problem,” said Paul Menson, GM’s director of energy storage commercialization. Lower upfront cost, less maintenance. Peak will buy GM’s cells and integrate them into its products.
The Numbers: $900M, 2028, and a $3M Pilot
GM has committed $900 million to commercialize new battery chemistries, including a new Battery Cell Development Center expected to shave a year off the sodium-ion commercialization process. Trial production of GM’s sodium-ion cells starts in 2028 at that facility.
In the meantime, GM will sell lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells to LG Energy Solution for its storage systems — leveraging the existing Ultium joint venture. And GM is expanding its relationship with Redwood Materials, buying a 7.2 megawatt-hour second-life battery system for a Michigan plant. GM estimates it will save about $3 million over the system’s lifetime by shaving peak power demand and providing backup. “The factory is really excited because now we’ve got a more reliable factory,” said Kurt Kelty, GM’s VP of battery and sustainability.
What This Unlocks Next
Redwood already operates a 12 MW / 63 MWh microgrid using second-life packs at a Crusoe data center in Nevada — proving that repurposed EV batteries can handle the GPU power fluctuations of AI compute. GM’s own pipeline of 10,000 used packs will flow to Redwood, and the automaker plans similar installations at all its factories. With sodium-ion cells arriving by 2028, GM is betting that the cheapest part in a battery system is the one you never install.
Source: GM joins race to build batteries for AI data centers and the grid
Domain: techcrunch.com
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