General Motors shares close higher on Tuesday, auto maker to open battery cell development center in Michigan

General Motors Company (GM) announced on Tuesday plans to open a battery cell development center in Michigan in an attempt to reduce the cost and increase the driving range of its electric vehicles powered by lithium ion and solid-state batteries.

The Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center, which will be located on GM’s technical campus in Warren, Michigan, is due to open in mid-2022 and to commence manufacturing of prototype cells during the fourth quarter, the company said.

The new 300,000 square-foot facility is expected to work with GM’s existing materials research and development and battery systems labs in Warren.

“The key to making these vehicles affordable is going to be the cell cost in the battery packs,” Ken Morris, GM’s vice president of electric and self-driving vehicles, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The No.1 US auto maker had said it intended to have at least 60% lower battery costs in the next generation of Ultium batteries, while company officials had said future products would ensure electric driving ranges of 600 miles with a single charge.

General Motors shares closed higher for a third consecutive trading session in New York on Tuesday. The stock went up 0.67% ($0.36) to $54.34, after touching an intraday low at $53.65 and an intraday high at $54.74 respectively.

Shares of General Motors Company have risen 30.50% so far in 2021 compared with a 15.70% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2020, General Motors’ stock went up 13.77%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 16.26% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 13 out of 14 surveyed investment analysts had rated General Motors Company’s stock as “Buy”, while 1 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $72.00.