General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) announced Friday that the automotive company has acquired Israel-based Algolion Ltd, a software startup that helps detect problems in batteries.
GM said Algolion's software will help the Detroit automaker bring to the market a "cost-effective" early hazard detection system at a quicker pace.
The undisclosed agreement arrives amidst a period of significant investments by automakers in the production of electric vehicles and the expedited development of high-performance batteries. Batteries, which account for up to 50% of an EV's overall cost, are crucial for extending the duration of a vehicle's power supply.
At the same time, safety authorities are calling on U.S. automakers to enhance battery standards following several incidents of vehicle fires caused by faulty modules.
Algolion’s proprietary software utilizes data acquired from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance. Identifying these anomalies can provide early detection of battery hazards including "thermal runaway propagation events," GM said.
A thermal runaway is a rapid and unstoppable increase in temperature that leads to fires in EVs.
Shares of GM are up 1.14% in afternoon trading on Friday.