General Motors said that it had bought Algolion Ltd, an Israeli software company that assists in identifying battery issues.
According to General Motors, the Detroit carmaker will be able to commercialize a “cost-effective” early hazard detection system more quickly because of Algolion’s software.
For an unknown fee, the deal comes when manufacturers hurry to develop batteries that can power an automobile longer while investing billions in producing electric vehicles (EVs). Batteries can account for up to 50% of the cost of an EV.
Safety regulators are also urging US manufacturers to raise battery standards following a string of incidents in which faulty modules started fires in vehicles.
According to GM, Algolion has created software that analyses data from EV battery management systems to help identify cell performance irregularities and give early identification of battery risks such as “thermal runaway propagation events.”
A thermal runaway is a sudden, uncontrollable temperature rise that causes EV fires.
The 2014-founded Algolion will work with over 850 others at the GM Technical Centre in Herzliya, Israel.
In the Friday afternoon trading session, GM stock rose 1% along with other markets.
