( WIRED ) -- General Motors took a big step toward its reinvention as the `` New G.M . '' today when it opened what it calls the largest automotive battery laboratory in the United States , a move the struggling company believes will hasten the development of electric vehicles . The GM battery lab is located at its sprawling Warren Technical Center campus outside Detroit , Michigan . GM invested $ 25 million in the 33,000-square-foot Global Battery Systems Lab to develop and test the drivetrains underpinning the Chevrolet Volt and other hybrid , battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles . The automaker believes the facility , at its sprawling Warren Technical Center campus outside Detroit , Michigan , will help make it a market leader in battery and EV technology . `` The new global GM battery lab will benefit consumers across America by helping us advance the development of battery technology in the United States and put cleaner , more efficient vehicles on the road more quickly and affordably , '' CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement . `` Our new lab improves GM 's competitiveness by speeding the development of our hybrid , plug-in and extended-range electric vehicles . '' The lab 's opening comes one week after General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and vowed to reinvent itself as a leaner , greener company focused on fuel efficiency . It also comes as major automakers align themselves with battery manufacturers to bring cars with cords to market . Volkswagen , for example , recently signed a deal with Chinese auto- and battery-maker BYD , and Daimler bought nearly 10 percent of Tesla Motors last month . The Global Battery Systems Lab is four times larger than the cramped quarters where engineers had been working on the lithium-ion battery pack used in the Volt . It employs more than 1,000 engineers . The operation features 160 test channels and 42 thermal chambers that subject batteries to real-world driving conditions and temperarture variations . It also has 32 battery cyclers , `` treadmills '' used to deplete and charge the packs repeatedly . `` This facility is state-of-the-art and represents one of the largest and most capable battery test labs in the world , '' said Jim Queen , vp of global engineering . The lab has a maximum power capacity of 6 megawatts . The lab also features a thermal shaker table for testing the structural integrity of each pack and a battery tear-down workshop for failure analysis and reverse-engineering competitors ' batteries . The Global Battery Systems Lab is the crown jewel in GM 's battery program , which includes labs in Mainz-Kastel , Germany and Honeoye Falls , New York . General Motors is working with LG Chem on the battery that will provide the Volt with an all-electric range of 40 miles , and it has a joint deal with Compact Power and LG Chem to continue developing the technology . GM also has joined the University of Michigan in creating a battery-specific engineering curriculum and a battery lab in Ann Arbor . GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week and is radically scaling back its operations , but work on the battery lab started in December 2007 shortly after GM started developing the Volt . Construction started in August and engineers started testing batteries there in January . The company plans to open a factory somewhere in Michigan to begin producing batteries by the end of 2010 , at which point the Volt is slated to start rolling off an assembly line at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly factory . Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $ 1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT ! Click here ! Copyright 2009 Wired.com .
General Motors opens largest automotive battery laboratory in the U.S. GM invests $ 25 million in the 33,000-square-foot Global Battery Systems Lab . Lab will develop and test the drivetrains underpinning alternative vehicles . Opening comes one week after company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy .