General Motors said on Friday it had acquired Algolion Ltd., an Israel-based software startup that helps detect problems in batteries.
GM said Algolion’s software will help the automaker bring to the market a “cost-effective” early hazard detection system at a quicker pace.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, comes at a time when automakers are investing billions in manufacturing electric vehicles and rushing to develop batteries — which represent up to 50 percent of an EV’s price tag — that can power an automobile for a longer duration.
It also comes as safety authorities urge U.S. automakers to improve battery standards after a series of events where vehicles have caught fire due to defective modules.
Algolion has developed a software that uses data from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance and 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.
Algolion, founded in 2014, will join more than 850 employees at GM’s Technical Center in Herzliya, Israel.