Ultium is the brand name given by General Motors (GM) to its entire electric vehicle platform that will be the basis for all of its electric cars going forward.
Like the MEB platform Volkswagen is using for most of its new electric car offerings, the Ultium chassis can be lengthened or shortened to fit a variety of vehicles. It can be make wider or narrower, as the needs of the company require. It can add more battery modules or use fewer of them.
GM has also designed electric motors and software controls that will be part of the Ultium platform.
The company has designed three electric motors in-house — a 180 kW (240 hp) permanent magnet motor for front-wheel-drive applications, a 255 kW (315 hp) permanent magnet motor that can be used in front or in back, and a 62 kW (83 hp) all-wheel-drive assist induction motor that can be used in front or in back.
The motors will be packaged with an inverter and gear-set in various combinations to go into a generation of fully electric vehicles ranging from the GMC Hummer to family sized crossovers like the Chevrolet Equinox.
Given the 5 possible motor layouts and the flexibility of the Ultium battery pack, GM says it has as many as 19 different battery and drive unit combinations on the shelf and ready to go into its electric cars of the future.
The ability to manufacture them from a few basic components will help achieve economies of scale that will translate into lower prices for the vehicles they are installed in.
This is a Businesswire Feed; edited by Clean-Future Team