GM unveils new EV battery tech, aims to be first to market

By: bitcoin ethereum news|2025/05/14 00:45:05

General Motors battery technician Steven Petty Jr. focuses on aligning electrodes on an anode sample for a prototype LMR battery cell in the making. Photo by Steve Fecht for General Motors WARREN, Mich. — General Motors expects to pioneer a new “groundbreaking” EV battery technology that the automaker says will reduce costs and boost profitability of its largest electric SUVs and trucks. GM is targeting the new batteries and chemistry inside them — called lithium manganese-rich (LMR) prismatic battery cells — to be used in full-size electric vehicles such as its Chevrolet Silverado and Escalade IQ beginning in 2028. The new batteries use more-prevalent, less-expensive minerals like manganese instead of larger amounts of cobalt and nickel that are currently used in EV batteries from GM and other automakers. Different EV battery chemistries impact everything from the range and safety of EVs to energy efficiency and charging capabilities, among other needs. “LMR unlocks the premium range and performance at an affordable cost,” said Kurt Kelty, GM vice president of battery, propulsion and sustainability, during a media event at the automaker’s tech and design campus in suburban Detroit. “It’s a game-changing battery for electric trucks.” GM’s first-to-market expectations come after crosstown rival Ford Motor earlier this month announced its intention to launch what it similarly called “game-changing” LMR batteries before 2030. GM Research and Development Battery Cell Systems Research Director Mei Cai, Ph.D., oversees engineers developing coating materials for next-generation battery prototypes in the coating lab at GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan in 2021. GM LMR batteries have been around for decades, but they’ve historically offered a far shorter lifespan, according to Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at auto advisory firm Telemetry. It’s a problem GM believes it has solved with its LMR batteries, which are being developed in partnership with LG Energy Solution. Ultium Cells, a GM and LG Energy Solution joint venture, plans to start commercial production of LMR prismatic cells in the U.S. by 2028, with preproduction expected to begin at an LG Energy Solution facility by late 2027. LMR prismatic cells Prismatic cells references the form, or shape, of the square battery cells. They’ve historically been used in hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, followed more recently by EVs. GM, for several years, has been using rectangular “pouch” cells in the U.S., while also also utilizing cylindric cells in China. GM says it first started researching manganese-rich lithium-ion battery cells in 2015, accelerating the technology development in recent years. GM expects the new prismatic LMR batteries and supporting technologies to cut hundreds of pounds from its large EVs. The new battery packs will have 50% fewer parts as well as a significant reduction in the number of modules, or cell cases, inside the vehicles’ battery packs, GM said. An employee holds a full-size prototype LMR battery cell at the General Motors Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center. GM has prototyped approximately 300 full-size LMR cells as it worked with LG Energy Solution to crack the code on the chemistry. Photo by Steve Fecht for General Motors For EVs, battery cells are typically combined into battery modules, which are then installed in battery packs that get integrated into a vehicle. Kelty said the LMR batteries will be supplemental to GM’s current pouch cell batteries, formerly known as Ultium, as well as upcoming LFP — lithium iron phosphate — prismatic battery cells that are expected to be used in smaller, entry-level EVs. “We’re going through a massive growth phase in our EV side of the business,” Kelty said, noting that GM has surpassed Tesla as the top EV battery manufacturer in North America. “We’re really building a electrification powerhouse.” GM expects the LMR prismatic battery cells to have 33% higher energy density, providing addition miles of range, compared with the best-performing LFP cells, but at a comparable cost. Kelty declined to discuss the specific cost of the batteries, commonly measured in dollars per kilowatt-hour, or kWh, but confirmed the company achieved a cost reduction of $60 per kilowatt-hour last year. Electric Chevrolet Silverado shown at the New York Auto Show, April, 2022. Scott Mlyn | CNBC The average cost of battery packs for EVs dropped 20% to $115 per kilowatt-hour in 2024, according to a BloombergNEF battery price survey released in December. Abuelsamid, a former engineer turned analyst, estimates GM’s packs with LMR prismatic batteries are likely around a cost of $80 to $90 per kWh. That compares with at least $125 per kWh for GM’s current batteries, he said. GM declined to disclose whether vehicles with LMR batteries will be profitable upon launch. The Detroit automaker said nearly 50% of its current EVs in the first quarter were variable profit positive, meaning they generated enough revenue to cover their production costs. ‘Next step’ Kelty described LMR as the “next step” in GM’s EV plans. The automaker has sunk billions of dollars into electrification as part of an ongoing, yet scaled back, plan under GM CEO Mary Barra. In 2021, Barra said GM would exclusively offer EVs by 2035, investing $35 billion between 2020 and 2025. The company has since said customer demand — which has been slower than expected — will dictate its EV plans. It also has not disclosed its total EV investment thus far. GM believes the LMR batteries will assist in lowering barriers for consumer adoption of EVs. Most notably, concerns around cost and range. Other hurdles, such as charging infrastructure and consumer education, remain. GM aims to offer more than 400 miles of range in an electric truck while achieving significant battery pack cost savings compared with today’s EVs. Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/gm-new-ev-battery-tech.html

The X Chat will be available for download on the App Store this Friday. The media has already covered the feature list, including self-destructing messages, screenshot prevention, 481-person group chats, Grok integration, and registration without a phone number, positioning it as the "Western WeChat." However, there are three questions that have hardly been addressed in any reports.

There is a sentence on X's official help page that is still hanging there: "If malicious insiders or X itself cause encrypted conversations to be exposed through legal processes, both the sender and receiver will be completely unaware."

Question One: Is this encryption the same as Signal's encryption?

No. The difference lies in where the keys are stored.

In Signal's end-to-end encryption, the keys never leave your device. X, the court, or any external party does not hold your keys. Signal's servers have nothing to decrypt your messages; even if they were subpoenaed, they could only provide registration timestamps and last connection times, as evidenced by past subpoena records.

X Chat uses the Juicebox protocol. This solution divides the key into three parts, each stored on three servers operated by X. When recovering the key with a PIN code, the system retrieves these three shards from X's servers and recombines them. No matter how complex the PIN code is, X is the actual custodian of the key, not the user.

This is the technical background of the "help page sentence": because the key is on X's servers, X has the ability to respond to legal processes without the user's knowledge. Signal does not have this capability, not because of policy, but because it simply does not have the key.

The following illustration compares the security mechanisms of Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, and X Chat along six dimensions. X Chat is the only one of the four where the platform holds the key and the only one without Forward Secrecy.

The significance of Forward Secrecy is that even if a key is compromised at a certain point in time, historical messages cannot be decrypted because each message has a unique key. Signal's Double Ratchet protocol automatically updates the key after each message, a mechanism lacking in X Chat.

After analyzing the X Chat architecture in June 2025, Johns Hopkins University cryptology professor Matthew Green commented, "If we judge XChat as an end-to-end encryption scheme, this seems like a pretty game-over type of vulnerability." He later added, "I would not trust this any more than I trust current unencrypted DMs."

From a September 2025 TechCrunch report to being live in April 2026, this architecture saw no changes.

In a February 9, 2026 tweet, Musk pledged to undergo rigorous security tests of X Chat before its launch on X Chat and to open source all the code.

As of the April 17 launch date, no independent third-party audit has been completed, there is no official code repository on GitHub, the App Store's privacy label reveals X Chat collects five or more categories of data including location, contact info, and search history, directly contradicting the marketing claim of "No Ads, No Trackers."

Issue 2: Does Grok know what you're messaging in private?

Not continuous monitoring, but a clear access point.

For every message on X Chat, users can long-press and select "Ask Grok." When this button is clicked, the message is delivered to Grok in plaintext, transitioning from encrypted to unencrypted at this stage.

This design is not a vulnerability but a feature. However, X Chat's privacy policy does not state whether this plaintext data will be used for Grok's model training or if Grok will store this conversation content. By actively clicking "Ask Grok," users are voluntarily removing the encryption protection of that message.

There is also a structural issue: How quickly will this button shift from an "optional feature" to a "default habit"? The higher the quality of Grok's replies, the more frequently users will rely on it, leading to an increase in the proportion of messages flowing out of encryption protection. The actual encryption strength of X Chat, in the long run, depends not only on the design of the Juicebox protocol but also on the frequency of user clicks on "Ask Grok."

Issue 3: Why is there no Android version?

X Chat's initial release only supports iOS, with the Android version simply stating "coming soon" without a timeline.

In the global smartphone market, Android holds about 73%, while iOS holds about 27% (IDC/Statista, 2025). Of WhatsApp's 3.14 billion monthly active users, 73% are on Android (according to Demand Sage). In India, WhatsApp covers 854 million users, with over 95% Android penetration. In Brazil, there are 148 million users, with 81% on Android, and in Indonesia, there are 112 million users, with 87% on Android.

WhatsApp's dominance in the global communication market is built on Android. Signal, with a monthly active user base of around 85 million, also relies mainly on privacy-conscious users in Android-dominant countries.

X Chat circumvented this battlefield, with two possible interpretations. One is technical debt; X Chat is built with Rust, and achieving cross-platform support is not easy, so prioritizing iOS may be an engineering constraint. The other is a strategic choice; with iOS holding a market share of nearly 55% in the U.S., X's core user base being in the U.S., prioritizing iOS means focusing on their core user base rather than engaging in direct competition with Android-dominated emerging markets and WhatsApp.

These two interpretations are not mutually exclusive, leading to the same result: X Chat's debut saw it willingly forfeit 73% of the global smartphone user base.

Elon Musk's "Super App"

This matter has been described by some: X Chat, along with X Money and Grok, forms a trifecta creating a closed-loop data system parallel to the existing infrastructure, similar in concept to the WeChat ecosystem. This assessment is not new, but with X Chat's launch, it's worth revisiting the schematic.

X Chat generates communication metadata, including information on who is talking to whom, for how long, and how frequently. This data flows into X's identity system. Part of the message content goes through the Ask Grok feature and enters Grok's processing chain. Financial transactions are handled by X Money: external public testing was completed in March, opening to the public in April, enabling fiat peer-to-peer transfers via Visa Direct. A senior Fireblocks executive confirmed plans for cryptocurrency payments to go live by the end of the year, holding money transmitter licenses in over 40 U.S. states currently.

Every WeChat feature operates within China's regulatory framework. Musk's system operates within Western regulatory frameworks, but he also serves as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This is not a WeChat replica; it is a reenactment of the same logic under different political conditions.

The difference is that WeChat has never explicitly claimed to be "end-to-end encrypted" on its main interface, whereas X Chat does. "End-to-end encryption" in user perception means that no one, not even the platform, can see your messages. X Chat's architectural design does not meet this user expectation, but it uses this term.

X Chat consolidates the three data lines of "who this person is, who they are talking to, and where their money comes from and goes to" in one company's hands.

The help page sentence has never been just technical instructions.

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Before using Musk's "Western WeChat" X Chat, you need to understand these three questions