GM says new battery chemistry will enable 400-mile range EVs | Hacker News Reader

GM says new battery chemistry will enable 400-mile range EVs

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20 points01-_-32 comments

If you’re thinking, like I did, “Lucids already go 400 miles”, TFA clarifies to mean that a Cadillac that goes 300 miles will be able to go 400 miles. I guess “33% range increase” isn’t as sexy?

They think they need a 400 mile range Hummer EV for some crazy reason.

This makes a lot of sense for EV trucks and large SUVs in particular. Towing and hauling demolish EV range. A 400 mile range Hummer that has 150-200 miles range while towing a trailer would be a game changer.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a40896618/ev-pickups-to...

Also where I live in the US mountain west I appreciate any additional range on the vehicle I use for loaded up camping trips in the summer. Fast and reliable charging options are still somewhat sparse so any extra range helps keep you moving on long journeys.

>A 400 mile range Hummer that has 150-200 miles range while towing a trailer would be a game changer.

It already exists, it's called the Chevy Silverado EV:

https://insideevs.com/news/688681/chevrolet-silverado-ev-vs-...

Judging from the comments in this thread, GM is doing a terrible job marketing this truck.

GM's own EV pickup also goes 400+ miles. But it has a massive battery and efficiency around 2 mi/kWh.

“plans to start commercial production in the US by 2028.”

Stellantis/Factorial is claiming solid state batteries will appear in the 2026 Dodge Charger:

https://electrek.co/2025/04/28/jeep-dodge-maker-validates-so...

One of the big design flaws of the Chevy Bolt is the lack of a heat pump. Running the heater uses up significant energy and thus range. I noticed something near the end of winter, pretty big discounts on bolts. Heater isnt a problem for me because often I dont drive long enough to ever heat up anyway.

When checking https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ and 400km range, you can get all the long distance places; but i think practical use of an EV isn't in that max range per charge. It seems to want to leave you in that 10% to 60% battery range for your long distance driving anyway. You arent really using your max range capability.

The one disadvantage I found, charging speed on a bolt is 55kw; but on many higher end cars you can get 150-300kw. The new blazer EV can charge at 150kw and so you're getting triple the range per time period.

Charging speed and curve seems far more important than range to me.

The Bolt is a, what, ten year old design, and it was built to a price. As it pertains to TFA, resistive heating and low-end charging unit don’t have much to do with battery chemistry.

I was establishing what seems to matter and its not so much range from battery chemistry that matters.

Range is important because charges are unavailable in much of the country still

Absolutely, though charging speed is also hugely important.

Anywhere where you don't have access to your own charger, being able to add 100 km of range per minute, makes it possible to make the switch to an EV.

Yeah I’d say priority 1 is having the charger at all and then ideally having a fast one. It sucks to show up to all these charging places and wait an hour because half of them are down at any moment in time and the are only 2-4 per location

Yup. For long trips range determines:

1. Whether the trip is possible. You need enough range to span the largest gap between charge stations with an acceptable safety factor.

2. The number of charging stops you will need.

Charging speed determines:

1. How long your charging stops will last.

Trip time is the sum of:

1. Time actually on the highway.

2. Time actually charging at your charging stops.

3. Time transitioning from #1 to #2 and later back to #1. Let's call this overhead time.

The total time spent actually charging is, assuming you started the trip fully charged:

  (Trip_Length - Range) / Charge_Rate

That's because after you've used up your range from your before-trip charging every mile for the rest of the trip comes from charging during the trip.

For long trips the time spent charging is usually much more than the overhead time. A fast charging short range EV will usually get there faster than a slow charging long range EV.

In terms of perceived heat per energy usage, heated seats are the biggest win. At least in my ancient Volt I can get things pretty efficient by focusing only on seat heating over cabin heating. The trade-offs are a lot of passengers get confused by that and some of them distrust it because a vent isn't blasting a bunch of air at them (which is hugely inefficient; but was "cheap" when ICE had so much free waste heat). Also, none of the models today focus on rear passenger heated seats, that's still seen as too much of a "luxury car" thing, which is weird (and inefficient).

In the Volt it was a lot of fun to play these sorts of micro-efficiency games because getting to 40+ miles of range on an estimated 35 miles of range battery was always exciting.

(ETA: The number of times I wished I could entirely lock passengers out of HVAC controls was quite high. Seriously what is it with some people and their wish to have loud obnoxious fans blast 70+ degree heat at them in winter? While they are in their winter coats? For a five minute drive?)

I can’t image that’d work well when child/booster seats are involved - which is probably why most cars don’t have rear heated seats.

Seems like an engineering problem that could be fixed with smarter controls. The Jaguars I've been in don't turn on rear passenger seat heating automatically and instead it is an easy to find button for the rear passenger with long enough arms.

I don't mean it turning on automatically, just that it's a waste of money when most people probably use their rear seats for children (or cargo).

For my 2016 Volt I need to run the defroster to be able to actually see out of the window though. And that takes around 4KW on average.

I can get less than half the range on cold days in the winter (65 MPGe) vs the maximum in the summer (140 MPGe)

400 fake EPA miles is probably closer to 300 real world miles and a pretty nice range.

Some vehicles EPA miles are way off while others are spot on.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/electric-car-range-and-cons...

And maybe 200 if you're using AC.

AC has a negligible impact on consumption. Unsurprisingly, heat pumps are efficient ways to move heat, and the temperature differentials are never very high (at most, 30-40F). Heating is a much bigger issue, since temperature differentials can be much higher (as much as 100F delta in truly cold climates, or 50-60F deltas in more normal climates), and the cooling effect of wind works against you (instead of for you, in the case of AC).

Doesn't CATL now reach almost 500 miles?

They do - a range of 800 km is possible with CATL latest battery. And about 100 km of range can be added per minute, so it's now very close to adding range as fast as petrol cars.

To me that is the turning point and not using lithium is an added bonus.

Source https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250421-china-s-catl-...

They are chasing the wrong problem. They should be working to reduce recharge time, possibly by easier full/partial battery replacement...

Lot's of EV's (including mine) can charge from 20% - 80% in 20 minutes. I would not pay extra for any faster. It takes 20 minutes to shuffle the entire family through the bathroom and buy a coffee so faster charging wouldn't save us any time.

Some EV's take an hour to go from 20-80%. That's unacceptable. But below 20 minutes is very much diminishing returns.

And 99% of our charging is done at home, where DC fast charging time is completely irrelevant.

Plenty of people would greatly appreciate charging times much quicker than 20 mins. People without large families taking long breaks, apartment dwellers, etc. would

Battery replacement is never going to happen, save for an absolutely remarkable new battery technology. They’re too big and too integrated into the vehicles.

Most people want to charge at home as it’s significantly cheaper. More range makes sense.

Nio has 4 minute battery swaps. It would be great to haul around a lighter battery for around town, then get a long range battery for a road trip.

NIO went this way. [1] I suggested it at the start of EV's becoming popular and HN was not a fan. My childhood toys were my inspiration. I could put them on the charger and wait forever or swap to a recently charged set and have instant gratification. Now if they could just build cars to be as durable and safe as my childhood toys most accidents would just be a fun way to meet people.

One of the reasons I like the idea is that instead of being on the hook for a crazy expensive battery pack I just swap it for one that in theory has been tested and when it falls below some standard it gets refurbished by someone else and I would never have to deal with it. This also opens up the options for swapping to newer generations of batteries such as 3D printed solid state for more than double the range, or same range with half the weight possibly useful for short-haul heavy duty trucks.

[1] - https://www.nio.com/nio-power

Both are really needed. People that lived in the city always forget just how spread out most of America is.

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