Tesla Veteran Is Overhauling GM’s Troubled EV Battery Strategy

General Motors Co. was so proud of its electric-vehicle battery when it showed it off four years ago, it gave it a name: Ultium. Now the name — and if all goes well, the associated baggage — is disappearing amid a broad strategic shift led by a new battery boss, former Tesla Inc. executive Kurt Kelty.

Kelty plans to lay out GM’s new approach to batteries at its investor day presentation on Tuesday, including a plan to use different types of chemistry, a variety of shapes of cells and different ways to package them for its EVs. He also ...