Carmakers navigating the costly and tricky transition to battery storage systems

April 15 (Reuters) – Carmakers and battery companies facing a weak U.S. market for electric vehicles are scrambling to repurpose battery factories to make energy-storage systems to fuel AI’s thirst for power instead. But converting plants to new types of batteries won’t be easy, nor will the demand for energy storage materialize fast enough to absorb a glut of unused factory space for EV batteries. The expected surge in demand for electricity and energy storage comes at an opportune time for automakers like General Motors and Ford Motor and their battery suppliers — Asian manufacturers that include Japan’s Panasonic Holdings,…