GM Snaps Up Former Tesla Battery Expert Kurt Kelty To Supercharge Affordable EV Strategy

General Motors Co GM has hired former Tesla executive Kurt Kelty as the company’s vice president of Batteries to work on delivering profitable and affordable electric vehicles to customers.

What Happened: According to Kelty’s LinkedIn profile, he was employed at Tesla for over 11 years as senior director of battery technology till 2017. However, the battery expert is now resigning from Silo Nanotechnologies Inc to join General Motors.

“This morning it was announced that I’ll be joining GM as the VP of Battery. I’m excited about this opportunity, mainly because of the massive impact it could have on increasing EV sales,” Kelty wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Thursday.

The position of Vice President of Batteries has been newly created at GM. In the role, Kelty will be in charge of GM's battery cell strategy including the use of raw materials, research, developing and investing in new technology, and commercialization of cells and packs.

“What attracted us to Kurt is his experience in finding the right partners, building out supply chains and scaling electrification technology. He led the development of Tesla's first-ever Gigafactory, the largest lithium-ion battery and EV component factory in the world,” GM President Mark Reuss said.

Why It Matters: During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in January, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company intends to scale the production of its EVs this year and produce 200,000 to 300,000 Ultium-based Chevrolet GMC, Cadillac, and BrightDrop EVs in North America while also bringing new models to showrooms.

However, this will all be subject to customer demand, Barra said, while adding the company may switch to making more combustion engine vehicles and fewer EVs if demand drops.

“It’s true, the pace of EV growth has slowed, which has created some uncertainty,” the CEO said.

Barra however reiterated the company's commitment to removing tailpipe emissions from light-duty vehicles by 2035.

In October, GM withdrew its EV production targets of making 400,000 EVs from 2022 to the first half of 2024. In fact, the company delivered only  75,883 electric vehicles across its brands last year.

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