GM Opening Battery Cell Center

General Motors ($GM@US) announced on Tuesday that it would open a battery cell development center in southeast Michigan. The new center will work to cut the cost of developing electric vehicles by researching and building better lithium-ion and solid-state battery cells. Called the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center, the facility should open in mid-2022 and start building prototypes in the 4th quarter. GM’s vice president of electric and self-driving vehicles, Ken Morris, said, “The key to making these vehicles affordable is going to be the cell cost in the battery packs.” Morris also noted GM would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the new facility. After the announcement, GM stock was up over 1.5% in early trading.