Why GM is betting on a new type of EV battery
The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles.
'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt.
"We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan.
"LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR."
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants.
GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay.
But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells.
Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries.
"That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury.
But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost.
"One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury.
"The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable.
"There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'.
"So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way.
"Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant."
Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent.
With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent.
"That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury.
That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup.
"Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury.
"We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments.
"We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific."
He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km.
With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury.
Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead.
GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping.
Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually.
"This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury.
GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures.
With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent.
"We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury.
GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV.
It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share.
GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup.
The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs).
The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles.
'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt.
"We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan.
"LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR."
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants.
GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay.
But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells.
Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries.
"That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury.
But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost.
"One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury.
"The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable.
"There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'.
"So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way.
"Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant."
Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent.
With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent.
"That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury.
That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup.
"Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury.
"We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments.
"We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific."
He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km.
With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury.
Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead.
GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping.
Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually.
"This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury.
GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures.
With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent.
"We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury.
GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV.
It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share.
GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup.
The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs).
The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles.
'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt.
"We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan.
"LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR."
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants.
GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay.
But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells.
Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries.
"That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury.
But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost.
"One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury.
"The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable.
"There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'.
"So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way.
"Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant."
Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent.
With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent.
"That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury.
That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup.
"Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury.
"We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments.
"We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific."
He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km.
With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury.
Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead.
GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping.
Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually.
"This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury.
GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures.
With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent.
"We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury.
GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV.
It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share.
GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup.
The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
General Motors says its upcoming lithium manganese rich (LMR) batteries will offer an ideal balance of cost and range for certain electric vehicles (EVs).
The American automaker plans to offer LMR batteries in addition to its existing types of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), intended for use in more affordable vehicles, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), which it uses in more high-end vehicles.
'Rich' isn't an element on the periodic table, of course. Instead the name refers to a higher percentage of manganese being used but less in the way of nickel and cobalt.
"We think that LMR really has an opportunity to be the low-cost chemistry in North America that's American pioneered and aligned with the infrastructure we already have in place," GM battery engineer Andrew Oury told media at the GM Technical Center in Michigan.
"LMR has cost that's comparable to LFP but instead of having a range capped at around 350 miles [563km], we can get well over 400 miles [644km] of range with LMR."
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
The new LMR batteries will enter commercial production in 2028 at GM/LG Energy Solutions joint-venture plants.
GM says that LMR batteries have been studied since the 1990s, but the chemistry has never been employed in EVs due to concerns over short battery life and voltage decay.
But it claims LMR cells it has tested have energy density 33 per cent greater than the best-performing LFP cells on the market, while matching the lifespan of current-generation high-nickel cells.
Additionally, it can produce LMR batteries using the same equipment used to produce NMC batteries.
"That's a big benefit to localising low-cost chemistry. LFP wouldn't be able to use the same manufacturing lines – it needs different lines," said Mr Oury.
But why is GM almost completely removing cobalt from the equation for these new EV batteries? One word: cost.
"One of the easiest formulations of NMC is to take equal parts of nickel, manganese and cobalt, blend them together, and because you've got one part of each, we call that NMC 1-1-1," explained Mr Oury.
"The problem with it is these materials don't have the same cost. Cobalt is clearly the most expensive of those materials, nickel is the next most expensive, and manganese is pretty affordable.
"There's been a tailwind at the back of every battery engineer for the last 10 years, which was everybody just said, 'We're going to drop the cobalt as low as possible, and we're going to increase the nickel as high as possible as a cost-saving strategy'.
"So you get rid of the most expensive one, you go to the next most expensive one. The reason you didn't go straight to the lowest cost one is because nickel is better at storing energy than manganese, so that helps get energy density up along the way.
"Every time the industry made a shift towards higher nickel, folks said you won't be able to make a battery that lasts long, it'll overheat, it won't charge fast enough, the battery won't be stable, and it won't be abuse tolerant."
Mr Oury explained many EV batteries have gone from 30 per cent nickel to as much as 80 per cent.
With its NMR batteries, it plans to push that back down to 30 or 40 per cent, while pushing manganese up to 60 or 70 per cent.
"That's going to help us get battery costs that are comparable to LFP with significantly higher energy density. This is a challenge, but we've addressed it with how we manufacture every element of the cell from the electrolyte to the energy-storing materials in the can," said Mr Oury.
That doesn't mean GM will phase out LFP batteries, which it will offer in the Chevrolet Silverado EV and next-generation Bolt, or NMC batteries, as used in vehicles like its electric Cadillac lineup.
"Going forward, we'll continue to use high-nickel chemistries where you need the longest range. In the rest of the market, we'll enable LFP near the entry level and LMR for mainstream or value vehicles," said Mr Oury.
"We're building enough sales volume in different segments that we don't have to use the exact same engineering solution across all segments.
"We can now have an engineering segment for this segment and a modified one for that segment. We'll still have large economies of scale but we can bring our piece cost and manufacturing cost down by being more application-specific."
He cited the example of the base Work Truck (WT) version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, which offers a claimed range of 792km.
With prismatic cells and LFP chemistry, it can offer 563km from a single charge – so "more range using low-cost LFP chemistry than some of our competition can get using the more expensive high-nickel chemistry", explained Mr Oury.
Despite recent headwinds for EVs – chief among them a new administration in the US that has proven hostile towards the technology – GM is charging ahead.
GM has two joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solutions and is building one with Samsung SDI, plus it has built a battery cell innovation centre at its Tech Center in Warren, Michigan that can produce full-size cells for prototyping.
Under construction is a battery cell development centre which will be able to produce half a gWh worth of cells annually.
"This plant will look like a faction of one of these plants, it'll have equipment that's largely the same, that can run at about the same speed and help us bridge that gap between prototype manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing," explained Mr Oury.
GM is expanding from pouch cells to new prismatic cells (pictured above), which will be produced at both of its joint ventures.
With these prismatic cells, GM can employ fewer but larger modules. In its electric pickup trucks, this means it can go from 24 modules to just six, with total battery module components reduced by 75 per cent and total pack components by 50 per cent.
"We don't think anybody's building a lower-cost cell in North America than we are," said Mr Oury.
GM currently offers a diverse lineup of EVs, ranging from the mid-size Chevrolet Equinox EV (pictured above) all the way up to full-size pickups and SUVs such as the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV.
It's currently second in terms of EV sales in the US, behind only Tesla. It doubled its EV market share in 2024 as new models came on stream, and grew sales 94 per cent in the first quarter of this year – or almost two full points of market share.
GM also builds a range of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac electric SUVs in China, and is launching Cadillac into new markets with an EV-only lineup.
The Cadillac Lyriq, launched in Australia earlier this year, is GM's first EV in Australia.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
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It also includes an additional touch panel between the steering wheel and the driver's door that can be used to control the headlights, view trip information and change the instrument cluster layout. But the Vistiq is alone among this trio in featuring an additional touchscreen used for the climate control, similar to screens you'll find in Audi and Range Rover products. While the Optiq and Lyriq's row of physical climate control switches didn't really need replacing, this screen does at least feature haptic feedback. The centre console has a unique design too. Behind the climate touchscreen are a pair of wireless charging pads, while aft of it you'll find a pair of cupholders and a rotary dial to control the infotainment system. There's a two-spoke steering wheel, which looks attractive but does occasionally feel weird in operation – 'Which way is up?' As with the Optiq and Lyriq, there are some eye-catching interior colourways available. We drove a Premium Luxury, for example, which featured blue on the dashboard, seats and doors, with suede pillar and headliner trim, and beautiful wood inlays. Modern Cadillac interiors often employ many different types of materials. By that, we don't mean multiple types of black plastic trim with different graining, but rather mixtures of wood, leather, metal and plastic. Some may find this style busy, but to my eyes the Vistiq's interior feels appropriately posh with an elegant design and interesting material choices. I like touches like the (admittedly Mercedes-Benz-like) seat controls on the doors, as well as the knurled metal volume wheel and infotainment dial and cupholder surrounds. The latter sit near touch-capacitive shortcut buttons which you may accidentally 'press' with your sleeve. There are a few material and design choices I don't care for. The bottoms of the doors are finished in hard plastic, though this is something we've also noticed in $200,000-plus Audis and $500,000-plus Porsches. The hard plastic glove compartment lid feels a bit cheap, too, while the patterned trim on the top of the dashboard behind the curved screen results in major glare on the windscreen. Everything feels generally well screwed together, mind you. If we're nitpicking, the centre console bin lid is just a tad wobbly. After unusually launching the Lyriq without a head-up display, a common feature among luxury brands and plenty of non-luxury ones too, the Vistiq features a dual-pane augmented reality head-up display. Information like speed is displayed on one tier, with turn-by-turn directions on the other. However, the Vistiq does without Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, both of which feature on the Lyriq. General Motors has been moving away from this smartphone mirroring technology in its EVs, arguing its Android Automotive-based infotainment system gives you a raft of embedded Google apps and the opportunity to download more The embedded Google Maps will helpfully tell you what your charge level will be at your destination, and suggest charging stops along your route. But after years of getting us used to smartphone mirroring apps, to drop them is a frustrating choice by GM. Second-row occupants also get a touchscreen for adjusting climate settings, while other amenities include air vents, map pockets, a pair of USB-C outlets, and a 110V power outlet. There's plenty of room, and the floor is flat aft of the first-row seats. There's the choice of a three-seat bench or individual captain's chairs, the latter of which will be standard fitment in Australia. With the captain's chairs, you can easily scramble to the third row via the middle. Alternatively, there's a button on each seat that sees it tilt and slide forward. At 180cm tall, my knees were just touching the second-row seatbacks when I sat in the third row. However, someone my height in the second row was able to move their seat forward ever so slightly and still enjoy plenty of space, while also freeing up more for me. I had plenty of headroom, with the fixed glass panel – which is available with a shade – actually providing me with more space for my noggin. Toe room wasn't a problem either. This makes the third row more spacious than, say, that of a Kia EV9. Amenities back here include air vents, cupholders and padded armrests on each side, as well as a pair of USB-C outlets. Cadillac quotes 431 litres of boot space behind the third row, expanding to 1218L with the third row dropped and 2272L with the second and third rows dropped. To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool What's under the bonnet? There's just one powertrain available in the Vistiq. Cadillac publishes two different range figures for the Vistiq in the US, both based on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) test cycle. It has 491km of range, dropping to 483km when equipped with the optional 19.2kW onboard charger. It separately advertises a 460km figure under the WLTP test cycle in Europe. The European-market Vistiq is advertised as having a 91kWh NCMA battery, while the US-market Vistiq has a 102kWh capacity. Powertrain specifications are otherwise the same. To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool How does the Cadillac Vistiq drive? The Vistiq features multi-link front and five-link rear suspension with semi-active Chassis Damping Control dampers as standard. Unlike the smaller Optiq and Lyriq, the Vistiq can be had with air suspension – something which typically promises a plusher feel. You don't need to step up to an air-suspended Vistiq, however, to enjoy a comfortable ride. A caveat here: we'll get the export chassis tune in Australia and not the American one we tested. Cadillac says export markets like Europe and Australia expect a sportier though not harsh or aggressive feel. '[There's] not much of a difference. A lot of it's on-centre steering feel… and on-centre damper control,' lead development engineer Drew Mitchell told CarExpert. 'The way we calibrate damper current and firmness… We try to give you a little bit more on-centre stiffness, help a little bit with some of that motion control, so it's going to feel in the American variant a little softer.' We had a relatively limited test route along mostly suburban roads, though I was able to take a detour or two to drive the Vistiq across some unsealed roads. First, we drove a Premium Luxury riding on huge 23-inch alloy wheels and fitted with air suspension. It didn't quite smother train tracks, but it gobbled up some rather jagged Michigan roads. It also settled quickly over rises, though we didn't find too many undulating roads along our route. Driving Vistiqs back to back, we found those with air suspension had a touch more float but didn't feel barge-like by any means. Still, Cadillac says the standard suspension offers a sportier feel, though it's still very comfortable. The Vistiq has a similarly classy feel to the Lyriq over the road, and this extends beyond a plush ride. The propulsion sound is subdued, and throttle response is smooth and progressive; Cadillac says it worked hard on what's called 'lash controlling', with the aim of limiting the jerky feeling you get with some high-performance EVs. As a result, the Vistiq won't rock you back in your seat, so if you want thrills like that you'll likely have to wait for a Vistiq-V… if Cadillac decides to build one. You can press a red V button on the steering wheel to engage Velocity Max mode and give you quicker acceleration. This isn't tied to a drive mode setting, and pushing it changes only the pedal response, giving you maximum power and torque albeit while depleting the battery quicker. There are Tour, Sport and Snow/Ice drive modes selectable via an anchored bar at the bottom of the touchscreen, with a custom My Mode allowing you to adjust settings for the steering, brakes, suspension, acceleration, and motor sound. We mostly drove in Tour mode, and the Vistiq has light, manageable steering at low speeds. It's not completely vacant, mind you, but flicking the Vistiq over to Sport mode doesn't do much to change the steering weighting and feel. Making the Vistiq more nimble is available rear-wheel steering. This sees the rear wheels turn in the the opposite direction of the front wheels, up to 3.5 degrees, at low speeds to improve maneuverability; at higher speeds, they turn with the front wheels to improve control. Cadillac is planning to offer a 'Stealth' sound, getting rid of the artificial propulsion sound. But the regular sound is hardly obtrusive, and the Vistiq is blessed with a serene cabin. Very little wind noise makes its way in. As with the Lyriq, Cadillac has included a 'regen on demand' paddle behind the steering wheel that effectively allows you to brake the vehicle without putting your foot on the brake pedal. You can also activate a typical one-pedal driving mode. We saw energy consumption of between 22.2kWh/100km and 28.2kWh/100km, though again we must note this was a limited test route. The Vistiq comes standard in the US with Super Cruise, allowing for hands-free driving across over a million kilometres of roads in North America – typically divided highways. This feature is unlikely to come here. While GM vehicles equipped with Super Cruise haven't offered a lane-centring function for use on roads on which the system doesn't function, the automaker is introducing what it calls hands-on centring assist on certain vehicles for 2026. It's unclear if we'll get this feature in Australia; we should hope so, given how unusual it is that the Lyriq lacks such a feature in our market. To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool What do you get? Cadillac hasn't confirmed precisely what the local Vistiq lineup will look like, but it has confirmed it'll only offer high-end trims. In the US it's offered in four different trim levels, and we'd expect only the top two to be offered here. 2025 Cadillac Vistiq Luxury equipment highlights: 21-inch alloy wheels Continuous Damping Control Vehicle-to-home (V2H) functionality 19.2kW onboard charger LED headlights with LED cornering lights Illuminated front grille and badge Illuminated door handles Heated, power-folding exterior mirrors with driver's auto-dimming Rain-sensing wipers Panoramic sunroof Power tailgate Privacy glass Remote start 7-seat configuration 33-inch curved display Digital rear-view mirror Power-adjustable front seats Heated second-row seats Heated steering wheel Power tilt and telescoping steering column Five-zone climate control Active Noise Cancellation AKG 23-speaker sound system with Dolby Atmos Wireless phone charging Illuminated front door sill plates Ambient lighting Alloy pedals The Sport features darker exterior elements. The Premium Luxury adds: 22-inch alloy wheels Adaptive air suspension Active Rear Steering 6-seat configuration with second-row captain's chairs Front passenger seat memory Augmented reality head-up display Night Vision Sueded microfibre headliner The Platinum adds: Black roof Brembo front brakes Body-colour wheel arch mouldings To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool Is the Cadillac Vistiq safe? The Cadillac Vistiq has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, or American safety authorities such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Standard safety equipment across the range includes: Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) Blind-spot assist Driver attention monitoring Rear cross-traffic assist Safe exit warning Surround-view camera Traffic sign recognition Super Cruise 8 airbags To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool How much does the Cadillac Vistiq cost to run? Cadillac Australia hasn't released local servicing and warranty information for the Vistiq. However, the Lyriq is currently backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty and an eight-year, 160,000km battery warranty. The Lyriq also comes with five years of free roadside assistance and free scheduled servicing, with visits to a service location required every 12 months or 12,000km. To see how the Cadillac Vistiq stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool CarExpert's Take on the Cadillac Vistiq While most luxury brands have been focusing on large, two-row electric SUVs, Cadillac has developed a three-row SUV that offers spacious and comfortable accommodation across all three rows. It might share much with the Lyriq, but Cadillac has also given the Vistiq a significantly different visual identity inside and out. Cadillac's new EVs all have a classy look and feel inside out, and the Vistiq builds on the Lyriq base with new features like rear-wheel steering, air suspension, Night Vision, and a head-up display… though the removal of smartphone mirroring grates. There are some question marks here. We don't yet know how much it'll cost in Australia – it likely won't be cheap, especially if Cadillac is bringing only up-spec models, but just how much pricier will it be than, say, a Volvo EX90? It also remains to be seen how much of a difference in feel the global suspension tune will bring. Cadillac's dealer network is also tiny in Australia at the moment – one Experience Centre in Sydney, another one opening soon in Brisbane, but nothing yet locked in for Melbourne. However, based on our short time with the vehicle, we found an impressive mix of performance, practicality, style and comfort that should make the Vistiq worth considering if you need a three-row electric SUV. Interested in buying a Cadillac Vistiq? Get in touch with one of CarExpert's trusted dealers here Pros Smooth and comfortable to drive Spacious interior Stylish inside and out Cons
