GM's North American supply chain overhaul aims to cut EV costs and boost independence

General Motors is methodically remaking the upstream portion of its electric-vehicle value chain, pushing to source more battery inputs inside North America as it seeks to control costs and reduce exposure to geopolitical and market risk.

GM executives describe the effort as more than factory building; it is an attempt to secure the minerals and processed materials that determine cell cost. “As we get close to the end of this decade, the level of battery manufacturing independence that we have will be almost unrecognizable from today,” Andy Oury, GM battery engineer and business planning manager, said on the Core Memory Podcast. “The battery is the most expensive part of an EV. The cells are the most expensive part of the battery pack. The cathode is the most expensive part of the cell,” he added, arguing GM’s chemistry choices target that expense directly.

The company’s strategy combines chemistry shifts with a series of supply and investment commitments across lithium, cathode active material, anode material and key metals. GM remains a user of nickel–manganese–cobalt–aluminium (NMCA) pouch cells across much of its range while preparing to introduce a lithium manganese‑rich (LMR) prismatic chemistry. GM says LMR will cut reliance on costly nickel and cobalt, boost manganese content and achieve cost parity with low-cost lithium‑iron‑phosphate packs while approaching the driving range of conventional NMC cells. The automaker plans to deploy prismatic LMR cells in full‑size trucks from 2028, targeting more than 400 miles of range at lower cost.

On raw materials, GM has assembled a network of North American-linked suppliers. In lithium, the company has partnered with Lithium Americas and invested US$625 million for a 38% stake in the Thacker Pass project in Nevada to secure battery‑grade lithium carbonate. For processed lithium hydroxide, GM struck a multi‑year supply arrangement with Livent in July 2022 that envisaged shifting processing to North America to feed GM’s Ultium cathodes as the company pursues its goal of scaling to 1 million EVs a year in the region.

Cathode sourcing is being bolstered through multiple agreements. LG Chem (now LG Energy Solution affiliates) has committed to provide large volumes of cathode active material; in July 2022 parties set out an agreement covering hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CAM, and LG later announced a substantial long‑term contract , described by LG as worth KRW 25 trillion , to supply GM with cathode material from a Tennessee plant beginning in the mid‑2020s. Industry reporting also characterised the expanded GM–LG arrangement as a multi‑billion‑dollar supply pact to underpin cell production in North America.

Manganese supply has been secured via Element 25. Under an agreement announced in June 2023, Element 25 will export manganese mined in Australia and process it at a planned facility in Louisiana to produce manganese sulfate, with GM providing an US$85 million loan. The deal was sized to support substantial EV production in North America, with Element 25’s figures describing capacity to supply tens of thousands of tonnes annually.

GM’s nickel needs for its lower‑nickel LMR chemistry have been addressed through a partnership with Vale, which plans to source nickel from Canadian operations for the US market beginning in 2026. Vale had previously proposed a dedicated processing project in Quebec but put the second phase on hold amid softer EV demand projections; the miner says it can rely on existing Canadian plants in the short term to meet supply timelines.

On the anode side, GM signed a multibillion‑dollar agreement with Vianode for synthetic graphite, which the supplier intends to manufacture at scale in Ontario with product shipments expected from 2027. Bringing graphite production closer to vehicle assembly plants is designed to shorten logistics chains and improve quality control for high‑performance anode material.

Taken together, these contracts and investments reflect a deliberate pivot to a North America‑centred supply network that aligns with the sourcing conditions embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act and with GM’s broader cost reduction agenda. According to the company, the combination of LFP use in some models, LMR rollout for larger vehicles and a localised materials pipeline will undercut the cell cost drivers that presently keep overall EV price tags high.

GM frames the approach as market‑driven rather than regulatory alone. “This is not about making people buy electric vehicles. It’s about making electric vehicles that people want to buy,” Oury said, emphasising demand, affordability and product performance as the programme’s objectives.

The plans are not without execution risk. Several projects referenced by suppliers and industry reporting hinge on planned processing facilities coming online between 2025 and 2027 and on sustained EV market growth. Vale’s pause of a project phase in Quebec and broader forecasts of softer EV demand in the US illustrate the potential for timing shifts to affect downstream cell production. GM’s investments and offtake contracts are intended to mitigate such risks, but they bind the automaker to long‑term assumptions about scale and pricing.

For procurement teams, cell engineers and fleet planners focused on industrial decarbonisation, GM’s approach offers a blueprint: reduce dependence on distant supply chains by pairing chemistry innovation with strategic upstream partnerships and regional processing capacity. If the network materialises as envisaged, it could lower input volatility and improve the cost competitiveness of larger, longer‑range electric vehicles , a critical factor for accelerating fleet electrification at scale.