General Motors has held a presentation dedicated to Ultium, its proprietary electric vehicle chassis incorporating an innovative battery type. The first cars using it should emerge as soon as this year.
GM intends to use the chassis for various vehicles produced by its subordinate brands – Buick, GMC, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. The new Cadillac Lyriq will be the first to take advantage of the groundbreaking tech.
According to the automaker, the new architecture is rather flexible and supports a variety of FWD, RWD and AWD designs. The Ultium battery at its core can be rated anywhere between 50 and 200 kilowatt-hours and operate under voltages ranging in the 400V – 800V area. The maximum driving range is estimated at 400 miles, or roughly 650 kilometers.
As we mentioned above, the Cadillac Lyriq will be the first production car to benefit from the switch to the Ultium tech, followed shortly by the previously announced GMC Hummer EV and a Chevrolet EV.