GM Invests $60M in Battery Materials Innovator Mitra Chem

DETROIT – General Motors announced Wednesday that it is investing $60 million in AI-enabled battery materials innovator Mitra Chem.

Mitra Chem’s AI-powered platform and advanced research and development facility in Mountain View, California, will help accelerate GM’s commercialization of affordable electric vehicle batteries, a news release states.

GM and Mitra Chem will develop advanced iron-based cathode active materials, such as lithium manganese iron phosphate, to power EV batteries compatible with GM’s Ultium Platform. 

GM’s funding will help Mitra Chem scale its current operations and expedite its battery materials formulation to market.

“This is a strategic investment that will further help reinforce GM’s efforts in EV batteries, accelerate our work on affordable battery chemistries like [lithium manganese iron phosphate] and support our efforts to build a U.S.-focused battery supply chain,” said Gil Golan, GM’s vice president of Technology Acceleration and Commercialization. “GM is accelerating larger investments in critical subdomains of battery technology, like cell chemistry, components and advanced cell production processes. Mitra Chem’s labs, methods and talent will fit well with our own R&D team’s work.”

Mitra Chem’s battery R&D facility can simulate, synthesize and test thousands of cathode designs monthly, ranging in size from grams to kilograms, the release states.

“GM’s investment in Mitra Chem will not only help us develop affordable battery chemistries for use in GM vehicles, but also will fuel our mission to develop, deploy and commercialize U.S. made, iron-based cathode materials that can power EVs, grid-scale electrified energy storage and beyond,” said Vivas Kumar, Mitra Chem’s CEO and co-founder.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.