The Tesla Alum Trying to Turn GM Into an American Battery Juggernaut

Oct 7, 2026

Kurt Kelty, GM’s battery and sustainability chief, is a veteran of Panasonic, Tesla, and Sila who helped build the first Gigafactory. He discusses GM’s pivot from pouch cells to LMR prismatic batteries, the fierce U.S.-China contest over LFP production, and why sodium-ion storage could unlock new markets. They also explore factory economics, supply chains, and the future of domestic battery manufacturing.

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ANECDOTE

From Camcorders To 492-Mile Trucks

Kurt Kelty has seen lithium-ion batteries evolve from camcorder components into 492-mile vehicle power systems.
His career spans Panasonic, Tesla, a silicon-anode startup, and GM, giving him perspectives across the battery supply chain.

INSIGHT

Battery Innovation Follows Its Customers

Battery industries flourish when cell developers work near the companies creating demand for their products.
Asia’s electronics ecosystem accelerated battery innovation because phone, laptop, and tool makers collaborated closely with cell engineers.

ANECDOTE

One Car Program Doubled Battery Demand

Tesla’s planned 35-gigawatt-hour Model 3 factory would have doubled the entire global electronics battery market in 2013.
GM’s two Ultium factories can each produce 40 gigawatt-hours, illustrating EV-scale demand.

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There are two big trends in the American battery sector at the moment. The first is that the electric vehicle market is deteriorating. GM, for instance, sold just 25,000 EVs in the third quarter of this year. Ford sold 6,000 EVs. Even the long-awaited return of the Chevy Bolt sold just 8,000 units — a small fraction of the vehicle’s already-limited production run. At the same time, the data center boom and the return of electricity growth is boosting batteries of all kinds not designed to power EVs.

Our guest today is in charge of navigating those opposing trends and figuring out what comes next. Kurt Kelty started his career at Panasonic in 1993, where he led the company’s battery research lab. He then went on to Tesla, helping to build the first Gigafactory. Since February 2024, he’s been vice president of battery and sustainability at GM. We talked about manufacturing generally, how the U.S. battery manufacturing sector should look, and how companies should be structured to compete globally, even though they’re making batteries for a mostly U.S. audience.

Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News.

You can find a full transcript of the episode here.

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