GM Sodium-Ion Storage Push Turns AI Data Center Power Into A Battery Market Test

GM Links Battery Storage To AI Power Demand

General Motors is widening its battery business beyond electric vehicles with a grid-scale storage plan tied to the power needs of AI infrastructure.

The company announced work with Peak Energy on sodium-ion cells for stationary storage, while also using LG Energy Solution and Redwood Materials as nearer-term channels for energy storage systems.

The structure matters because GM is not betting on one route.

Sodium-ion is the longer-term chemistry project.

Lithium iron phosphate cells give LG Energy Solution a supply path for storage systems before sodium-ion is ready.

Redwood Materials gives GM a reuse path for factory scrap and second-life EV packs.

GM has committed USD 900 million to commercialize new battery chemistries, including a new battery development center.

The company has not disclosed how much of that total is assigned to the Peak Energy partnership, so the announcement proves strategic direction more than near-term revenue scale.

Sodium-Ion Sets The 2028 Watchpoint

GM plans to supply sodium-ion cells to Peak Energy, which would integrate them into grid-scale products.

Trial production of GM sodium-ion cells is expected at the Battery Cell Development Center in 2028, leaving several years before the chemistry can become a material supply source.

Sodium-ion cells can be cheaper, longer lasting and less prone to overheating than lithium-ion cells, but they are larger and heavier for the same stored electricity.

That tradeoff weakens the vehicle case and strengthens the stationary-storage case, where weight is less important than cost, durability and operating risk.

Peak Energy has designed sodium-ion systems without cooling systems or fire suppression systems because overheating risk is lower.

If that design holds at commercial scale, fewer auxiliary parts could reduce upfront cost and maintenance complexity.

Redwood And LG Provide Earlier Signals

GM will sell lithium iron phosphate cells to LG Energy Solution for storage systems, building on the Ultium battery relationship.

Redwood already buys GM battery factory scrap and used EV packs, and GM has around 10000 packs headed to Redwood.

Redwood is operating a 12 megawatt and 63-megawatt-hour microgrid using second-life packs at a Crusoe data center in Sparks, Nevada.

GM is also buying a 7.2 megawatt-hour Redwood system for a Michigan plant, with estimated lifetime savings of around USD 3 million.

Those deployments explain the AI data center link.

GPU-heavy sites can use batteries to smooth power fluctuations and support reliability, while factories can use storage to cut peak demand charges and provide backup power.

The 2028 sodium-ion trial is the main technical milestone; LG supply and Redwood deployments are the nearer proof points.