LG Energy Solution and Seoul National University say they have tackled one of the biggest problems holding lithium-manganese-rich batteries back, with large 40Ah cells retaining 92.2% of their initial energy after 883 cycles.
LG Energy Solution has revealed new research that could bring lithium-manganese-rich batteries a significant step closer to electric cars, after demonstrating substantially improved stability in large-format cells.
Working with researchers at Seoul National University, the battery manufacturer developed an operating strategy designed to suppress one of the biggest problems associated with lithium-manganese-rich, or LMR, batteries: gas generation caused by irreversible oxygen reactions inside the cell.
The results are notable because the technology was not simply demonstrated in a tiny laboratory cell. In its research announcement, LG Energy Solution said the team applied its findings to 40Ah-class large-format cells, which retained 92.2% of their original energy after 883 charge and discharge cycles.
That moves the research much closer to the sort of cell format required for an electric vehicle and makes the work considerably more relevant than a headline result achieved only in a coin cell.
Why LMR batteries are attracting attention
Most EV battery development involves finding a compromise between cost, energy density, durability and the materials required to manufacture the cells.
High-energy layered-oxide batteries can rely heavily on materials such as nickel and cobalt. Cobalt in particular is relatively expensive and brings additional supply-chain pressures.
LMR chemistry attempts to change that balance by using considerably more manganese, which is more abundant, while reducing the amount of cobalt required.
The material tested by LG Energy Solution and Seoul National University contained just 0.27% cobalt by weight. The peer-reviewed research published in Nature Communications reports 663Wh/kg of specific energy when measured against the mass of the positive-electrode active material.
That distinction matters. It does not mean LG has produced a finished 663Wh/kg EV battery pack. Battery-cell and complete battery-pack energy densities are substantially different from figures calculated using cathode active material alone.
What the research does demonstrate is the potential of the underlying chemistry to combine relatively high energy with a more manganese-heavy material composition.
The problem LG has been trying to solve
LMR is not a new idea, but making it work reliably in large EV cells has been difficult.
Part of the chemistry’s high energy comes from reactions involving oxygen within the cathode. If those reactions do not reverse properly as the battery charges and discharges, oxygen can effectively become lost from the material.
That can lead to structural degradation, reduced capacity and, critically for a large battery cell, gas generation.
The researchers found that controlling the battery’s operating voltage could make much more of that oxygen reaction reversible. When the upper charging limit was reduced from 4.6V to 4.3V, the proportion of oxidised oxygen successfully reversed increased from around 86% to 97%.
The team then found another important part of the equation at the opposite end of the battery’s operating window. Lowering the discharge cut-off from 3.0V to 2.0V allowed more of the remaining oxidised oxygen to return towards its original state.
In simple terms, the researchers were not merely changing the battery material itself. They altered how the cell is charged, discharged and initially formed to make the chemistry behave more predictably.
LG Energy Solution subsequently redesigned the operating voltage window and formation conditions for its 40Ah cells, including using a lower-temperature formation process to help suppress gas production.
92.2% energy retention after 883 cycles
The resulting large-format cells retained 92.2% of their initial energy after 883 cycles.
For a technology whose large-cell potential has previously been constrained by degradation and gas generation, that is arguably the most significant part of the announcement.
There are still important unanswered questions before LMR becomes commonplace in production cars, including manufacturing cost at scale, fast-charging behaviour, real-world temperature performance and complete pack-level energy density.
Those practical variables matter just as much as laboratory energy figures. Battery behaviour in normal use is also why an EV’s displayed charge level does not always tell the whole story, as we explain in our guide to why your EV’s battery percentage can be misleading. Temperature management is another major part of real-world performance, particularly when battery preconditioning comes into play before rapid charging.
GM already plans to put LMR batteries into EVs
The technology already has a potential route from research into production.
LG Energy Solution and General Motors announced in 2025 that they intend to commercialise LMR prismatic cells for future electric trucks and large SUVs. Their Ultium Cells joint venture currently plans to begin commercial production in the United States in 2028, following pre-production at an LG Energy Solution facility from late 2027.
In the LG and GM commercialisation announcement, the companies said their LMR design could provide around 33% greater energy density than their best-performing LFP cells at comparable cost.
GM’s longer-term aim is to use the chemistry to support electric trucks capable of more than 400 miles of range while reducing battery-pack costs compared with today’s high-nickel batteries. Those remain manufacturer targets rather than independently demonstrated production-vehicle figures.
LG Energy Solution has also said it is converting some production capacity towards LMR prismatic cells, adding weight to the suggestion that the chemistry is moving beyond purely experimental research.
What could this mean for electric-car buyers?
For drivers, the significance is not really the chemistry name printed on a specification sheet. It is what a battery such as this could eventually allow manufacturers to do.
Reducing expensive battery materials while maintaining useful energy density could help produce EVs with competitive range without simply installing ever-larger and more expensive battery packs.
There is also unlikely to be one winning battery chemistry. LFP continues to make considerable sense for affordable cars where durability and cost are more important than maximum energy density, while high-nickel chemistries remain useful where range and performance are priorities.
LMR could potentially occupy another part of that market, offering higher energy than LFP without relying as heavily on costly nickel and cobalt.
That makes this result more interesting than another laboratory battery boasting an enormous headline energy-density figure. LG and Seoul National University have demonstrated the improvement in a 40Ah cell, addressed a known degradation mechanism and connected the research to a battery chemistry that already has a route towards automotive production.
Tech Torque Verdict
There is still a considerable distance between a successful research programme and thousands of battery packs rolling off an automotive production line.
But LG Energy Solution’s latest LMR work addresses exactly the kind of problem that matters when experimental battery technology has to become a real product: can it survive repeated use at useful scale without degrading or generating excessive gas?
Retaining 92.2% of initial energy after 883 cycles in a 40Ah cell is an encouraging answer.
With LG Energy Solution and GM already targeting pre-production in 2027 and commercial manufacturing in 2028, LMR is becoming a battery technology worth watching closely — not because it promises an overnight revolution, but because it could offer manufacturers another route towards lower-cost EVs with competitive range.
