General Motors says it plans to begin making components for large storage batteries, joining Tesla, Ford Motor and other automakers in a growing market for industrial-scale batteries, while sales of EVs in the U.S. fail to reach the volume originally anticipated by the big car manufacturers.

The New York Times reports that the batteries, which can be the size of shipping containers, store excess energy from solar panels, wind turbines and other power sources. They are used for backup power by utilities, data centers and other big energy consumers, or to manage fluctuations in electricity supply or demand.

Tesla has been in the storage battery business since 2015, and Ford said in 2025 that it would convert a factory in Kentucky to make large batteries, after shutting down production of electric vehicle batteries there because of disappointing EV sales.

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G.M. said on June 9 that it plans to develop battery cells for large-scale storage using a relatively new technology from its partner, Peak Energy, which uses sodium‑ion energy storage that the company says is safer, lower‑cost and more reliable.