GM’s New Plants to Build Electric Trucks and Battery Cells - Smart Energy Decisions

Distributed Energy Resources, Energy Storage, Industrial  -  January 26, 2022

GM’s New Plants to Build Electric Trucks and Battery Cells

General Motors Co. announced an investment of over $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites to significantly increase battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity. 

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 for production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra, GM's second assembly plant scheduled to build 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 U.S., and our North American EV production capacity,” said Mary Barra, GM CEO in a statement. “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 U.S. EV leadership by mid-decade.”

GM said its goal is to become the EV market leader in North America by 2025. The Orion and Ultium Cells Lansing investments will support an increase in total full-size electric truck production capacity to 600,000 trucks when both Factory ZERO and Orion facilities are fully ramped. The company is investing in its two Lansing-area vehicle assembly plants for near-term product enhancements.

The investments will be made in the following locations:

  • Orion Assembly for production of Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra — GM is investing $4 billion to convert the facility to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform. Electric truck production, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra, will begin at Orion in 2024.
  • New Ultium Cells battery cell plant at Lansing site — GM and LG Energy Solution, via their Ultium Cells joint venture, are investing $2.6 billion to build Ultium Cells' third U.S. battery cell manufacturing plant. Site preparations will begin this summer and battery cell production is scheduled to begin in late 2024. 

GM assembly plants in North America currently building or being converted to build EVs include Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan; Spring Hill Assembly in Spring Hill, Tennessee; CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario and Ramos Arizpe Assembly in Mexico.


« Back to Energy Management

  • LinkedIn
  • Subscribe

Smart Energy Decisions Content Partners