Months after slashing its lofty electric vehicle goals, General Motors is intensifying its focus on energy technology to keep up with data center needs for electricity. Now, it’s announced plans to develop a cheaper, more durable battery for large-scale energy storage.

The Detroit-based automaker is working with startup Peak Energy to develop a sodium-ion battery, aiming to commercialize it by 2028. Its goal is to leapfrog the dominant battery cell tech used for energy storage packs right now — LFP (lithium-iron phosphate), which is dominated by China. Sodium batteries are cheaper to use than LFP because they don’t need an additional cooling system. They also have a 20-year usable life and are made from materials that can be sourced from within the U.S., the company said at a briefing in San Francisco on Tuesday.

“Sodium-ion actually is the better chemistry for that application. And when I say sodium-ion is better, I mean GM’s version of sodium-ion,” Kurt Kelty, GM’s battery chief and a long-time Tesla battery........

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