What is Ultium?

Charjd

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Most of the current crop of EV's are using the "skateboard" form. Meaning that the battery is flat and under the floor. What GM is doing isn't really different from all the others. GM has chosen to make a big deal of the "Ultium" platform. But is there such a thing? The Ultium platform comes in a variety of flavors ranging from one layer of batteries to three (?) in the Hummer. There seems to be different sizes of batteries and different motors. Is there really enough similarity to call this a "platform"? Is "Ultium" really a marketing gimmick, possibly to differentiate the new crop of promising autos from the old crop of sales failures? To me, a "platform" signifies an underlying basic form, which Ultium isn't. Am I missing something? I don't mean to seem contrary, but I have a great deal of distrust of what marketers tell us to get us to buy things. I'm sure these are all fine cars with a lot of new, fun gadgets, and I'm totally looking forward to possibly owning a Silverado EV (if I live long enough), but calling the platform it's on Ultium seems not quite factual. It seems absurd to say the Cadillac Lyriq and Silverado and Hummer are built on the same platform, when they clearly aren't.
 
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Roy2001

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They can change the battery and EV motor combination, develop a platform so that they can have a single battery management system.

The key is battery management. It doesn't mean the platform only supports one size of battery and motors.

But I am curious why Silverado ev payload is so low. 1300lb, vs 1600-2200lb of F150 Lightning.
 

4sallypat

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........
But I am curious why Silverado ev payload is so low. 1300lb, vs 1600-2200lb of F150 Lightning.
GM uses steel body.
Ford uses aluminum body.
 
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