GM simulated 300,000 battery designs before building a physical cell, consuming 300 million CPU hours

GM says that before building its first physical cell, it had simulated more than 300,000 next-generation EV battery designs, consuming a cumulative 300 million CPU hours, which by GM's own calculation is equivalent to one computer running continuously for 34,000 years. At the GM Forward event, GM used this to illustrate that it can shorten the traditional 4-to-5-year vehicle development cycle to about two years, and that the battery went from the first battery pack concept to formal project approval in only one month. These cells use a lithium manganese-rich (LMR) chemistry, which GM says has 33% higher energy density than LFP at comparable cost, with a nickel content of about 30% to 40%. GM plans to produce them with LG Energy Solution at the Ultium Cells joint venture plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, but the battery will not enter mass production until 2028.