How LG Chem Collaborated With General Motors To Bring The 2017 Chevy Bolt EV To Life

LG Chem and General Motors first came to a partnership under former CEO Dan Akerson’s era. The 2011 agreement inked a deal that would help shape the future of GM’s electric vehicle engineering.

Specifically LG played a major part in supplying more than a handful of essential systems for the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, as reported by Green Car Reports. Those are listed as follows:

• Lithium-ion Battery Cells and Battery Pack
• Battery Heater
• Electric Drive Motor (GM design)
• Power Inverter Module for DC-to-AC conversion (GM design)
• Onboard Battery Charger
• Electric Compressor for Climate-Control System
• High-Power Distribution Module
• Accessory Low-Power Module
• Power Line Communication Module (for communication with DC quick-charging station)
• Instrument Cluster
• Infotainment System

GM and LG furthered their working relationship last year with the 2017 Bolt EV announcement, which GM product chief, Mark Reuss, called a “different kind of OEM-supplier relationship.”

“We intend to do [better electric vehicles] better, more efficiently, and more cost effectively than anybody else can,” Reuss stated at the announcement.

The collaborative effort to bring the 2017 Bolt EV to life still involved plenty of GM resources, however. During the EV’s development, GM’s small-car team began working out of South Korea to engineer the Bolt EV, where Daewoo was formally operated. The automaker’s engineering was responsible for integrating the supplied LG components into one, cohesive machine, which initial drive impressions peg as quite good.

The economies of scale benefits both companies greatly. LG has a solid customer on its hands, and GM forgoes investing millions into factories to build factories for what LG already does. Expect the collaboration to only grow in the future.