GM has entered into a partnership with Peak Energy to develop new generations of sodium-ion battery cells; however, they will not be used in electric vehicles—their purpose is energy storage projects for power grids. GM Ventures is also making a strategic investment in Peak Energy. This is reported by Electrek, according to UNN.
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As part of the partnership, GM will develop sodium-ion cells at its battery labs in Michigan and will retain exclusive manufacturing rights. Peak Energy will integrate these cells into its energy storage systems as it scales up production in the US.
The companies are targeting a rapidly growing market as utility companies install energy storage systems to support renewable energy, rising electricity demand, and the development of data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Today, the stationary storage market is primarily based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. However, Peak Energy believes that sodium-ion batteries could become a cheaper alternative for power grids, where cost, reliability, and safety are more important than energy density.
A key element of Peak's offering is a passive battery cooling system. Traditional LFP systems require active cooling to maintain safe temperatures, which increases costs and complexity. Peak claims that its system completely eliminates the need for cooling equipment.
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According to the company, its sodium-ion platform can reduce the cost of energy storage by 20% compared to traditional systems, ensuring over 99% uptime.
Peak also claims that its design consumes less energy. The company estimates that replacing traditional LFP systems with passive cooling technology could reduce annual energy losses from storage systems in the US by up to 2 terawatt-hours. This is enough to power a medium-sized city for a year.
Kurt Kelty, GM's vice president of battery and sustainability, stated that sodium-ion technologies are well-suited for stationary energy storage.
At GM, we know that the application should dictate the battery type, and for stationary grid energy storage, sodium-ion solutions are the right choice. Peak is already demonstrating the value of sodium-ion technologies through its innovative platform, and together we are working to further expand these benefits with our new generation of cells—providing more reliable and cheaper energy storage for the US power grid,
Sodium-ion batteries currently hold a small share of the global market, but interest in them is growing because they can be manufactured from more abundant and cheaper materials than lithium ones. GM and Peak are betting that these advantages will make the technology increasingly attractive for large-scale energy storage systems. At the same time, GM does not plan to develop sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles due to insufficient energy density.