GM invests $7-B to realize goal of becoming North America’s EV market leader by 2025

MANILA: General Motors Co. (GM) announced a US$7-billion investment in four manufacturing facilities in Michigan, USA, which would create 4,000 new jobs and increase battery cell and electric truck production capacity. This is GM’s largest single investment announcement ever. The investment includes the construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant and the conversion of GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township to manufacture the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra. This will be GM’s second assembly plant set to produce full-size electric pickups.

“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,” GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra stated. “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.”

The investments announced will support an increase in total full-size electric truck production capacity to 600,000 units when both facilities are fully ramped. GM targets to have more than one million units of EV capacity in North America by the end of 2025.

Furthermore, GM is investing US$510 million in its two vehicle assembly plants in Lansing in order to improve product quality in the near future. The Lansing Delta Township Assembly will house the production of the next-generation Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave, while the Lansing Grand River Assembly will receive plant upgrades.

“These important investments would not have been possible without the strong support from the Governor, the Michigan Legislature, Orion Township, the City of Lansing, Delta Township as well as our collaboration with the UAW and LG Energy Solution. These investments also create opportunities in Michigan for us to bring our employees along on our transition to an all-electric future,” Bara added.

GM is also aiming to establish a new supply chain for batteries and EV components, which is projected to be expandable, more sustainable, and more North-American focused. The strategic supplier agreements include MP Materials to expand rare earth magnet sourcing and manufacturing in the US, VAC to build a new magnet factory in the US to accommodate EV growth, POSCO to construct a new cathode active material processing plant in North America, GE Renewable Energy to serve as rare earth material source, Wolfspeed to manufacture silicon carbide power devices, and Controlled Thermal Resources to create a closed-loop method for producing lithium in the US in order to emit less carbon than traditional methods.

Photos from General Motors Co.

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