General Motors showcased its new wireless battery management technology which will power its third-generation electric vehicles that will have Ultium Batteries. Earlier in the year, the American automotive giant had indicated its new strategy which would pivot towards modular Utium battery. This Ultium battery is slated to power the new Cadillac Lyric. One of the bigger advantages of Ultium that GM wants to leverage is the ability to upgrade battery cells which isn't possible right now in Lithium-Ion battery packs.
"General Motors will be the first automaker to use an almost completely wireless battery management system, or wBMS, for production electric vehicles. This wireless system, developed with Analog Devices, Inc., will be a primary driver of GM's ability to ultimately power many different types of electric vehicles from a common set of battery components," said the company in a statement.
Ultium Batteries will be used in GM's third gen EVs
"The wBMS is expected to drive GM's Ultium-powered EVs to market faster, as time won't be needed to develop specific communications systems or redesign complex wiring schemes for each new vehicle. Instead, the wBMS helps to ensure the scalability of Ultium batteries across GM's future lineup, encompassing different brands and vehicle segments, from heavy-duty trucks to performance vehicles," GM revealed.
This new software stack will enable GM to deploy battery management software which is somewhat a weakness for the American carmaker. GM stresses upon the advantages of wireless battery management tech which can reduce the clutter caused by wires by up to 90 percent.
"Scalability and complexity reduction are a theme with our Ultium batteries - the wireless battery management system is the critical enabler of this amazing flexibility. The wireless system represents the epitome of Ultium's configurability and should help GM build profitable EVs at scale," said Kent Helfrich, GM's executive director for global electrification and battery systems. e
