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  • G. David Felt
    G. David Felt

    By G. David Felt •

    MADE IN MICHIGAN - GM Proud Investing $7 Billion in Manufacturing

      Mary Barra was excited to share the news of a $7 Billion Investment in the great state of Michigan as GM will retain 1,000 existing employees and create 4,000 new jobs.

    GM is accelerating its drive to lead the EV industry with a $7 billion investment in Michigan, creating 4,000 New Jobs and retaining 1,000 existing jobs. One can watch the 46-minute announcement here:

    https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2022/jan/0125-michigan-investment.html

    GMMichiganInvest02.jpg

    With our investments in charging infrastructure, our dealer network and digital platforms for our customers, General Motors is well on its way to U.S. EV leadership by mid-decade. We’ll have the broadest EV portfolio, with an EV for every lifestyle and price point. 

    The bulk of the details are as follows:

    • Orion Assembly to become the 2nd U.S. plant building Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra
    • By the end of 2025, GM to have more than 1 million units of electric vehicle capacity in North America
    • GM and LG Energy Solution to build 3rd U.S. Ultium Cells battery cell manufacturing plant to increase battery supply
    • $7 billion is the largest single investment announcement in GM history

    Lansing Michigan is where the 3rd Ultium battery plant is to be built. GM's assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan will be converted to build the full-size Chevrolet and GMC electric pickups.

    Quoting Mary Barra: “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.”

    Factory ZERO and the Lansing assembly plant will be capable of 600,000 electric pickup trucks by the end of the year. GM has been the leader in U.S. full-size truck deliveries over the past two years and GM is going to build on this.

    UltiumCells-Lansing.jpg

    Specific details are as follows for the Orion Assembly and new Ultium Cell battery plant:

    • 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, 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 significant 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. Site work begins immediately.
    • 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. 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.

    220124_GM_US-MI-MAPS-01.jpg

    In addition to this announcement, GM is investing $510 million in the following two Lansing Assembly plants.

    • Lansing Delta Township Assembly — Investment is for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave.
    • Lansing Grand River Assembly — Investment is for plant upgrades.

    GM is now projecting that 50% of North America assembly production will be EV production by 2030. 

    GM is also working to expand and build a new supply chain via strategic supplier agreements for batteries and EV components, this is expected to be scalable, more resilient, sustainable and North American Focused. The following strategic supplier agreements include the following:

    • MP Materials to scale rare earth magnet sourcing and production in the U.S.
    • VAC to build a new magnet factory in the U.S. to support EV growth.
    • POSCO to build a new North America plant to process Cathode Active Material.
    • GE Renewable Energy to serve as a source of rare earth and other materials.
    • Wolfspeed to develop and provide silicon carbide power device solutions.
    • Controlled Thermal Resources to develop a source of U.S.-based lithium through a closed-loop process with lower carbon emissions when compared to traditional processes.

    GM expects to have more than 1 million units of BEV assembly capacity by 2025 and the capability to respond to the projected growing electric vehicle demand. GM North America is currently building or converting the following to build EVs.

    • Factory ZERO - Detroit and Hamtramck Michigan
    • Spring Hills Assembly, Spring Hills, Tennessee
    • CAMI - Ingersoll, Ontario
    • Ramos Arizpe Assembly, Mexico

    GM Accelerates its Drive to Lead the EV Industry with $7 Billion Investment in Michigan, Creating 4,000 New Jobs and Retaining 1,000

    (3) A $7 Billion Investment in Michigan | LinkedIn

    GM Quote Sheet

    GM's Commitment to EV Jobs & Investments in Michigan

    GM in the U.S.

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    G. David Felt
    1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

    This sounds great.  One question: what if nobody buys what these plants are making 5-7 years from now?

    Good question, but I do not think that will happen. If you ask most people what they hate about ICE auto's, you find fueling, maintenance and repairs. 

    Repairs happen no matter what type of auto you get, but maintenance can be reduced and fueling, this is resolved for local driving by charging at home or work. I see nothing but better quality of life which is what technology is all about, making life better.

    Better questions to ask I think:

    Do you want to plug in at home and recharge starting every day with a full battery charge or have to drive to a fuel station to refill?

    If stuck in traffic, would you rather burn fuel to stay comfortable dwindling your tank faster or have the intelligence of the computer direct power consumption only to those items that need to use it to regulate the comfort of the auto?

    Most electric auto's do not have the lubricants that ICE auto's have and require going to the dealership or a 3rd party place to have addressed. That maintenance is what most auto owners I believe would love to get rid of.

    We currently have generic appliances that as many here have stated are forgettable. As such, how would that change as most EV's right now are forgettable. 

    Examples of BLAH BEV's:

    Tesla auto's

    Mercedes

    Nissan

    BMW

    Examples of BEV's that I believe are to stick in the minds of people:

    F150 Lighting

    Mach-E

    GMC Hummer

    Rivian

    Yes, a very debatable list of autos but I do think there are those that are very attractive to the consumer and then there are the lemming mobiles. We have this whether it be ICE or BEV.

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    balthazar

    I don’t think automakers have been in such a precarious scenario since the depths of the Great Depression as far as the unknown near future is concerned. And some of what’s driving the OEM-level frenzy seems to be a strong urge to ‘get in on the new ground floor’… (Rivian for ex) but what if Tesla is the anomaly and not the future norm? 

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    G. David Felt
    6 minutes ago, balthazar said:

    I don’t think automakers have been in such a precarious scenario since the depths of the Great Depression as far as the unknown near future is concerned. And some of what’s driving the OEM-level frenzy seems to be a strong urge to ‘get in on the new ground floor’… (Rivian for ex) but what if Tesla is the anomaly and not the future norm? 

    True and we cannot ignore China. I think this decade will see some major disruption and death of established as well as new startup auto OEMs.

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    Robert Hall
    13 hours ago, balthazar said:

    One can only hope the Chinese automakers never get into the USDM, for the sake of the industry AND the consumer.

    I could see Chinese car makers making inroads in the US w/ cheap BEVs...never underestimate the average American consumer and their desire for cheap sh*t..

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    G. David Felt

    Interesting to see the news stories that the Chevrolet Bolt is Dead. This is of course attributed to the fact that with this announcement by GM, the Orion Plant will start and undergo changes to support the starting production of the Chevrolet and GMC electric trucks by 2024.

    At this time GM has not stated where the BOLT will go or if it will survive, but they do say that small affordable BEVs will be produced at their Mexico assembly plants.

    I do agree that since the Ultium platform is capable of supporting sub compact to full size, that the future for the BOLT looks dim, but that is not to say that a next gen Bolt would not be made on the Utlium platform.

    I suspect this will be based on how well the Bolt sales pick up once production starts this week, product gets onto the lots and if they sell or not.

    Dim future for Chevy Bolt EV, EUV as evidence mounts GM plans to end production - Roadshow (cnet.com)

    The Chevrolet Bolt Is Dead Because There's No Place for It in GM's Future - autoevolution

    I do see a very bright future for the BEV Equinox that is to start production next year.

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    balthazar
    58 minutes ago, David said:

    since the Ultium platform is capable of supporting sub compact to full size

    This is a very loose definition, and I wonder why GM chose to represent it this way.
    There will unquestionably & ultimately be many platforms in production.

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    Robert Hall

    GM probably has internal designations for different sizes of Ultium-technology platforms under development...like in the olden days where they had A-body, B-body and C-body, etc for families of products of different size and spec.

    So instead of a variety of 6 cyl and V8 engines, manual and automatic transmissions, gas tanks, etc used with a set of shared BOF and unibody platforms, now they will have a set of electric motors and battery packs with a set of shared platforms.  

    Different types of dirty bits, some of the same principles though. 

    Edited by Robert Hall
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    balthazar

    ^ It's painfully obvious - GM isn't putting the same amount (or dimensions) of steel/aluminum under a Silverado as they are in a Trax.  It's no different that pointing to am Impala frame in 1970 and saying 'that'll support compact to full-size'.

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    balthazar

    I always get excited when the wealthy / disposable income folk get new playtoys. ?

    Only thing that's 'pre-production' on the Hummer SUV above should be the body, so why all the loud, electrical whines?

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    G. David Felt
    5 hours ago, ccap41 said:

    Holy shet, those are some cringey videos. I watched a combined 30 seconds of the two and would not watch more. Why did you choose those videos to post?!?

    Cause I could not stop laughing at the people. Too funny imho. :P 

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