GM and LG Energy Solution are betting that their Spring Hill, Tennessee battery plant can get to market first with a chemistry that has been promising on paper for years. Ultium Cells today announced plans to produce lithium manganese rich (LMR) prismatic battery cells at the facility just outside Nashville, with construction starting later this year and commercial production targeted for 2028.
The claim is straightforward and significant: LMR cells are designed to deliver energy density 33% greater than lithium iron phosphate, which is currently the dominant low-cost battery chemistry in the EV industry, at a comparable price point. LFP has surged into the mainstream precisely because it undercuts the high-nickel chemistries that power longer-range vehicles. If LMR can close most of that energy-density gap without the cost premium of nickel-heavy cells, it changes the math on affordable EVs considerably.
GM frames the move as a way to fill a gap in its battery lineup rather than replace what’s already there. High-nickel cells remain the plan for maximum-range applications. LMR, according to GM, slots in below that tier to compete against LFP on cost while offering meaningfully better performance. The intended recipients of those cells are GM’s full-size electric trucks and SUVs, where range expectations are high and buyers remain price-sensitive.
The Spring Hill plant has been building batteries since March 2024, when it shipped its first cells to General Motors. Construction on the original facility began in 2021. The LMR expansion adds a new phase to a site that GM describes, along with its Ultium Cells plant in Warren, Ohio, as the largest OEM battery cell manufacturing capacity in the United States. Adding 500 jobs to the existing 1,200-person workforce is a concrete near-term commitment, though the production ramp is still two years out.
One detail GM has not shared: which specific future vehicles will carry LMR cells. The company confirmed full-size electric trucks and SUVs as the target application but has not named models or model years beyond the 2028 production window.
The manufacturing angle matters as much as the chemistry. Ultium Cells says the Spring Hill plant will be able to produce cells in multiple chemistries and form factors from the same facility. That kind of flexibility is what lets an automaker hedge its bets on which chemistry wins at volume. LMR is the newest entrant in that portfolio. If it proves out, the Spring Hill plant can scale it. If a better option emerges, the plant isn’t locked in.
Earlier this year, Ultium Cells announced it would redirect part of its Tennessee production from EV applications toward stationary energy storage systems, a move that signaled the joint venture was already thinking beyond the automotive supply chain. Adding LMR production into that same facility continues the pattern of treating Spring Hill as a multi-use manufacturing asset rather than a single-chemistry, single-application plant.
LMR prismatic cells have not been commercially produced at scale anywhere. GM and LG’s joint claim to be first matters because the chemistry that reaches volume production first typically drives down costs fastest, attracts the most supplier investment, and sets the performance benchmarks everyone else chases. If Spring Hill hits its 2028 target, it will be a meaningful lead. Two years is a long time in battery manufacturing, and the gap between announced and operational has a history of widening.
Source: General Motors. Images courtesy of General Motors.
