Summary: On June 9, 2026, GM announced three energy-storage moves: sodium-ion development with Peak Energy, LFP cells for LG Energy Solution systems, and a 7.2 MWh second-life battery system from Redwood Materials. Sodium-ion trial production is targeted for 2028, while the article says sodium-ion has essentially no North American market share now. The target market is grid and AI data-center storage rather than vehicles.
San Francisco, June 9, 2026: GM put three energy-storage deals on the table in a single stroke — a program to co-develop sodium-ion batteries with startup Peak Energy, LFP cells headed to LG Energy Solution for integration into storage systems, and a 7.2 MWh second-life battery system bought from Redwood Materials. In TechCrunch’s telling, this marks the first time GM’s battery business formally steps beyond vehicles, into the grid and data center market.
The timing is telling. Redwood Materials entered storage in 2025, Ford followed that December, and GM now arrives as the third automaker to make the move. One force drives all three: AI data centers are piling on power demand faster than utilities can build transmission and generation, and that gap is what turns storage into must-have infrastructure.
Three Agreements, One Destination
First comes the sodium-ion partnership. The two companies will co-develop sodium-ion cells at GM’s Battery Cell Development Center in Warren, Michigan, with trial production targeted for 2028. Per TNW, Peak Energy — a Bay Area startup — carries $100 million in backing, runs a pilot line in Escondido, California, and plans a factory rated for 10 GWh of annual capacity.
The second deal works as a bridge. GM hands its own LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells to LG Energy Solution, which builds them into finished systems sold to data centers and utilities — planting a flag in the market while sodium-ion is still short of commercial readiness.
The third deepens the Redwood Materials relationship. GM is buying a 7.2 MWh storage system for a Michigan facility — one TechCrunch estimates will save roughly $3 million over its life — and will channel about 10,000 used EV battery packs into Redwood’s recycling pipeline. Redwood’s existing showpiece is a 12 MW / 63 MWh microgrid it operates at a Crusoe data center in Sparks, Nevada, the largest second-life battery deployment in North America.
The Case for Sodium-Ion
Sodium-ion cells draw their chemistry from sodium, iron, and manganese standing in for lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Raw materials come cheap, the supply chain sits outside China’s grip, and fire risk falls sharply — enough that Peak’s system design drops cooling and fire suppression altogether. What you trade away is energy density: TNW cites roughly 120–160 Wh/kg, about half of automotive lithium-ion cells at 250–300 Wh/kg. That takes vehicles off the table, but for stationary cabinets it hardly matters.
The framing from GM battery VP Kurt Kelty: sodium-ion “will be a defining chemistry for grid-scale energy storage systems.” GM has put $900 million behind new battery chemistries since 2022, and the Warren development center opened its doors in 2024; the company expects the facility to pull commercialization forward by about a year. Kelty didn’t dress up the entry strategy either: “The way we’re getting into the market is the easy way, through ESS.”
Who’s Actually Buying? Data Centers
Every one of the three deals circles back to the same buyer: AI data centers whose power bills and interconnection queues have spun out of control. The commercial model already has its proof at the Crusoe microgrid in Sparks, and the LG supply line names its target customers outright — data centers and utilities.
Compute contracts are already being priced at $920 million per month — the Google–SpaceX deal being the case in point — which makes power the next obvious bottleneck. GM’s wager is that data centers will pay a premium for firm, dispatchable power, and that an automaker’s cell capacity and chemistry expertise can be cashed in inside that market.
Rivals and Roadblocks
GM is not stepping onto open ground. Tesla Energy, Fluence, and BYD hold established positions in storage. CATL and BYD have shipped sodium-ion cells in China, but as TNW points out, the technology has yet to show it can last through the 15–20 year cycle life utilities require. The domestic warning sign is Natron Energy, a startup that shut down once its funding dried up.
Peak Energy’s own record so far is a 3.1 MWh sodium-ion system completed near Denver in 2025. By Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s estimate, sodium-ion’s North American market share is essentially zero right now and stays under 1% through 2030. GM, meanwhile, is not disclosing how much it is investing in the storage push.
The Takeaways for Developers and Infrastructure Teams
Three signals with practical weight. One: automakers are turning into energy suppliers, which hands teams planning new AI facilities another class of storage vendor to evaluate, backed by automotive-scale manufacturing. Two: keep the timeline in view — sodium-ion trial production begins in 2028 and commercial volumes arrive later, so the 2026–2028 power crunch gets nothing from it; near-term relief still comes from LFP, gas, and demand response. Three: supply-chain de-risking pressure will keep pushing China-light chemistries up the priority list, and storage procurements built around China-dominated chemistries may run into heavier scrutiny in future tenders.