GM stepping-up EV manufacturing with $6.6 billion investment in Michigan

American automaker General Motors Co. is targeting more than 1 million units of EV production capacity in North America by the end of 2025. The company is strategizing its vehicle and battery facilities in Michigan, United States to meet the growing demand for EVs.

GM is investing $4 billion to convert its Orion Assembly facility to produce Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra electric trucks using the its proprietary 'Ultium Platform'. To aid the efforts, the company, along with its partner LG Energy Solution via their Ultium Cells joint venture, are investing $2.6 billion to build a new cell manufacturing plant at Lansing in Michigan.

With this move, the Orion Assembly becomes GM's second manufacturing facility scheduled to build full-size electric pickups in the US. The Lansing sites, on the other hand, becomes Ultium Cells' third battery cell manufacturing plant in the country.

Orion Assembly will also become GM's third U.S. assembly plant being transformed for production of Ultium-powered EVs. GM's assembly plants in North America that are either producing or preparing for 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.

Vertically integrating battery assembly and converting existing assembly plants are at the core of GM's strategy for scaling EV production in North America. GM aims to convert 50 percent of its North American assembly capacity to EV production by 2030.

In addition, the company is also working to build a new EV supply chain via strategic supplier agreements for batteries and EV components, which are expected to be scalable and sustainable in the region.