General Motors (GM) have announced they will invest more than $7 billion (£5.2 billion/€6.3 billion) in four Michigan manufacturing sites to significantly increase battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity. The investment will create 4,000 new jobs and retain 1,000 staff.
This is the single largest investment announcement in GM history. The investment includes the construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing and the conversion of GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan. The latter is for the production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra, GM’s second assembly plant scheduled to build full-size electric pickups.
Mary Barra, GM CEO, said: “Today we are taking the next step in our continuous work to establish GM’s EV leadership by making investments in our vertically integrated battery production in the US and our North American EV production capacity.
“We are building on the positive consumer response and reservations for our recent EV launches and debuts, including GMC HUMMER EV, Cadillac LYRIQ, Chevrolet Equinox EV and Chevrolet Silverado EV. Our plan creates the broadest EV portfolio of any automaker and further solidifies our path toward US EV leadership by mid-decade.”
These investments are the latest step in GM’s drive to become the EV market leader in North America by 2025. The Orion and Ultium Cells Lansing investments announced will support an increase in electric truck production capacity to 600,000 trucks when both Factory ZERO and Orion facilities are fully ramped.
GM is investing $4 billion (£3 billion/€3.6 billion) to convert the Orion Assembly facility to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform, which gives the company the flexibility to build vehicles for every customer and segment.
This investment is expected to create more than 2,350 new jobs at Orion and retain approximately 1,000 current jobs when the plant is fully operational. GM estimates the new jobs at Orion will be filled by a combination of GM transferees and new hires.
Electric truck production, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra, will begin at Orion in 2024. The Orion investment will drive facility and capacity expansion at the site, including new body and paint shops and new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas. Production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV will continue during the plant’s conversion.
At the Lansing site GM and LG Energy Solution, via their Ultium Cells joint venture, are investing $2.6 billion (£1.95 billion/€2.3 billion) to build Ultium Cells’ third US battery cell manufacturing plant. This investment is expected to create more than 1,700 new Ultium Cells jobs when the plant is fully operational. Site preparations will begin this summer and battery cell production is scheduled to begin in late 2024. Ultium Cells Lansing will supply battery cells to Orion Assembly and other GM assembly plants.
By the end of 2025, GM will have an electric vehicle capacity for more than one million units in North America to respond to growing electric vehicle demand.
