On July 31, 1971, two years after Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the Moon, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin set another historic first. They became the first people to drive on the Moon, thanks to the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle, which was developed by Boeing, General Motors, and others. GM provided the wheels, motors, and suspension system for the rover.
The rover was a study in minimalism that let astronauts in their bulky space suits travel as far as 10 kilometers from their landing site, allowing them to collect more diverse soil and rock samples quickly and easily. On earlier missions, astronauts never ventured farther than a few hundred yards from the lunar lander.
Powering the rovers were two 36-volt silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries. It was impressive technology for the time, but the inability to recharge the batteries, combined with the considerable temperature sensitivity of the batteries, severely limited range to a maximum of 57 miles. According to NASA, Apollo 15’s lunar rover motored 17.3 miles. Apollo 16’s road trip was 16.6 miles, while Apollo 17 ventured 22.3 miles.
Now NASA is actively preparing for a return to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, and the agency has awarded three teams contracts to compete to develop new Lunar Terrain Vehicle concepts. But only one group – led by a company called Lunar Outpost – includes GM, America’s largest automaker, its #2 EV company, and a leader in advanced battery R&D, manufacturing, and charging.
Today, all the EVs in GM’s U.S. portfolio – from the Chevrolet Equinox EV to the GMC HUMMER EV super truck – run on lithium-ion batteries with high-nickel cathodes. This battery cathode is often referred to as NCMA, short for nickel cobalt manganese aluminum oxide. NCMA batteries provide high energy density, long lifespan, high power output, and a wide operating temperature range. GM is using a variation of those NCMA batteries for the LTV concept.
In recent months, GM announced plans for commercial production of lithium manganese rich, or LMR batteries – and also LFP batteries, short for lithium iron phosphate – for use in future GM EVs. The new additions to the GM battery portfolio will provide more flexibility for creating affordable, long-range electric vehicles.
“Battery technology has truly gone to the Moon, and back,” said Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery, propulsion, and sustainability. “I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years, starting when lithium-ion was first commercialized. Back then, we were developing batteries for camcorders and laptops, trying to eke out a few extra minutes of runtime. Today, we’re powering full size electric trucks that can drive 495 miles on a single charge. It’s incredible to see how far the technology has come, and GM continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible – even on the lunar surface.”
In a recent carefully planned range test executed by the GM engineering team, a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range Work Truck went even farther, traveling 1,059.2 miles on a full charge.
The new lunar vehicle is designed to have dramatically higher range and battery capacity than the original rover. The new version is also engineered to have the ability to survive in total darkness during the 14 day long lunar night, with temperatures as low as -334 degrees Fahrenheit, with a total lifespan of up to 10 years. The new vehicle will be capable of both crewed and uncrewed operation.
GM is responsible not only for the battery and power system in the Lunar Outpost project, but also the vehicle chassis and suspension components, as well as autonomous features like traction and stability control and electronic steering.
With batteries designed into the chassis – not unlike GM’s consumer EVs – the rover is expected to have a low center of gravity, providing better vehicle dynamic control. General Motors also brings the program a wealth of experience in advanced driver assistance systems, like the Super Cruise feature offered in many GM vehicles.
Madhu Raghavan, group manager, battery and system architecture at GM, and part of the growing GM battery R&D team, said the batteries in the new Lunar Terrain Vehicle are similar to the NCMA systems used in GM light-duty electric vehicles, but with considerable upgrades. There obviously aren’t any charging stations or auto technicians on the Moon – they need to be exceptionally reliable.
Ergo, the batteries are built to be fault tolerant – they will operate in the event some cells fail – and they carry heating elements and considerable thermal insulation to protect them from the frigid temperatures. The batteries, Raghavan says, are designed to last at least a decade, with an estimated lifetime of 30,000 kilometers or about 19,000 miles, nearly 1,000 times the distance traveled by the original rovers.
Given the stakes, the rover battery packs will require what Raghavan describes as “super-precise laser welding,” with “flash thermography” scanning to assess every weld in “a very precise and careful way to avoid defects.” That scanning technology was originally developed to create high reliability packs for our Earth-bound EVs.
During the period in which the new rover operates autonomously on the Moon, one major task will be to map relevant portions of the surface – to effectively build out Super Cruise-style autonomy for the lunar surface for the astronauts to follow.
NASA is expected to announce which rover concepts it will advance to the next phase of development by the end of this year.
Published October 2025