DETROIT -- General Motors is investing $28 million to make "additional major enhancements" beginning this fall to a battery development and testing lab in suburban Detroit.
The additions will include new test chambers and advanced equipment to accelerate the company's next-generation battery architecture, CEO Mary Barra wrote in a blog post Wednesday on LinkedIn.
Barra previously said GM expects its electrified-vehicle business to be profitable with the launch of its next-generation EV platform in 2021 -- a major milestone as the company plans to release at least 20 new all-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles globally by 2023.
"Creating a world of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion won't happen overnight, of course, but our journey to this future is underway," Barra wrote, later ending the post with: "This is just the beginning."
The fall enhancements to the lab at GM's Global Technical Center in Warren, Mich., follow the automaker recently expanding the facility to more than 100,000 square feet, she said. A GM spokeswoman said those investments cost $6 million and began in 2017.
GM spent $20 million to nearly triple the lab's size to 85,000 square feet in 2013. The lab, which initially opened in 2009, is responsible for testing and validating both battery cells and packs for all of GM’s vehicle electrification systems.
Barra, in the post, also said the automaker will begin sourcing battery packs this fall from a new LG Electronics facility in Hazel Park, Mich., to its nearby Orion Assembly plant for the Chevrolet Bolt EV.
"Our scale and global manufacturing capability help us satisfy customer demands faster and more efficiently, and we continue to leverage smart partnerships," Barra said.
The Michigan location will be supplemental to an LG facility in Korea, which is currently producing the packs.
Barra also reconfirmed previously announced or reported initiatives to increase Bolt EV production and plans to deliver a prototype vehicle capable of a 180-mile range with less than 10 minutes of charging to Delta Electronics for official testing as part of a new U.S. Department of Energy initiative.
