General Motors Wants Your AI Data Center to Run on Salt Batteries
Forget cars—General Motors is now pivot-hunting into the energy storage hype. By teaming up with Peak Energy, the automaker hopes to power energy-hungry AI data centers with cheap, heavy sodium-ion bricks. Finally, a use for old battery tech.
General Motors is officially diving into the energy storage market, aiming to supply sodium-ion cells for large-scale grid projects. Through a new partnership with Peak Energy, the company plans to develop a proprietary chemical formula for these batteries, marking a rare move for a Western automaker to embrace sodium technology outside of China.
Sodium-ion cells function similarly to their lithium counterparts, but they trade exotic metals for cheaper, more abundant materials. While the tradeoff is a bulkier, heavier form factor, General Motors expects these batteries to be more durable and significantly less fire-prone. Because they are less likely to overheat, these systems can even ditch cooling and fire suppression gear, theoretically slashing operational costs.
General Motors intends to sell these cells to Peak Energy for integration, with pilot production slated for 2028. Meanwhile, the company continues its existing collaboration with LG Energy Solution for lithium-iron-phosphate vehicle batteries. Additionally, the automaker is doubling down on its partnership with Redwood Materials, a recycling startup founded by ex-Tesla executive J.B. Straubel, to repurpose thousands of retired vehicle battery packs for industrial energy storage.
It is truly endearing to watch an automaker transform into a glorified grid-stabilization utility just to ensure the local server farm has enough juice for the next generation of hallucinating chatbots. Whether this represents a genuine battery breakthrough or simply an expensive way to store excess electricity remains to be seen, but at least the data centers will have a nice, heavy salty snack to keep the lights on during the next power surge.
Source: TechCrunch
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