GM’s Q4 2023 earnings report revealed that full production has been achieved at the Ultium Cells plant in Warren, Ohio, operating at 100 percent capacity by the end of the quarter.
A quarter ago in Q3 2023, the Ultium Cells Warren facility was working at 75 percent of full output, with 100 percent predicted to be reached in November 2023, an expectation that has proven accurate.
GM states in its earnings deck that reaching full production at Ultium Cells Warren, and increasing cell manufacture at the second plant to begin operations, will now be able to supply 100 percent of battery needs for EVs in the North American market. Using cells and complete Ultium batteries produced in North America will make the automaker’s electric vehicles eligible for the full $7,500 Clean Vehicle Credit going forward.
In addition, supply chain adjustments for Ultium battery production is expected to make all Chevy Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq crossovers produced from this point in time forward eligible for the U.S. EV tax credit. During the Q4 earnings presentation CEO Mary Barra said approximately 25,000 Chevy Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq units were produced with batteries that make them ineligible for the credit, though GM offers a rebate on these vehicles.
GM says it will gain a “competitive advantage from developing the North American EV supply chain ecosystem,” with the battery plants beginning production as a major piece of this process. The GM Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee is launching production in Q1 2024, the second facility to begin mass manufacture of battery cells.
Production will ramp up over time and potentially reach full capacity as well by the end of 2024. The Spring Hills plant will soon be shipping battery cells to assembly plants, where the individual cells are fitted into battery modules and then installed in the EVs they will supply power to.
A third facility, Ultium Cells Lansing, is currently under construction and is expected to begin operations late this year. The Lansing plant held a job fair this week, seeking to attract new recruits to fill out its planned roster of approximately 1,700 employees.
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Comments
Some light needs shed on the truth here. The Ultium plant is NOT at 100% output capacity – pay attention to the verbiage. GM has reduced their demand of output, and now the plant is able to achieve that demand before all lines are up and running. Think about the recent announcement about plug-in hybrids – the EV demand has dropped.
The verbiage is clearly about production capacity, not meeting demand. While they did delay the opening of other production lines, that demand was never expected to be met by the Warren plant alone. That is where the (also delayed) Spring Hill and Lansing Ultium plants come in.
And EV demand hasn’t dropped. Growth is actually ahead of where projections just a few years old said it would be. But the growth in demand has been met with a rush of manufacturers all trying to grab their piece of an expanding pie.
With the looming possibility of tighter CAFE standards in the near future and the degree of competition in the EV market, leveraging existing PHEV tech is a smart move on GM’s part.
Chaz is correct.
The facility itself is not 100% capacity yet.
Assuming the GMA wording is correct how do you interpret it NOT to be at 100%. Your mixing battery production capacity with amount of EVs produced. Focus on the battery. IT SAYS OPERATING AT 100% CAPACITY. What are you reading differently?
“GM’s Q4 2023 earnings report revealed that full production has been achieved at the Ultium Cells plant in Warren, Ohio, operating at 100 percent capacity by the end of the quarter.
A quarter ago in Q3 2023, the Ultium Cells Warren facility was working at 75 percent of full output, with 100 percent predicted to be reached in November 2023, an expectation that has proven accurate”
Tell Ford that demand for EVs did not fall per their current sales figures. CAFE or any other asinine virtue signaling mandates will not get people to buy vehicles they do not want.
Fords EV sales were up 2023 vs 2022 and they are increasing production for 2024.
Read beyond the clickbait FUD headlines.
Ford just laid off a shift at their F 150 Lightning plant in Dearborn
Demand has not dropped but almost a dozen ran out of incentives in the Q3 2023. Those are reset for 2024.
Why? Are they needed? Is there really that much demand for the EV’s? I don’t see it, I still don’t know anyone who wants one.
The opposite for me. Plenty of friends and co-workers looking at GM products. One person wants to test drive a Lyriq but none on lots.
I wonder how they think they see if if they themselves probably are just not interested in it which is fine. Like your friends I have been patiently waiting for volume production so maybe I am not one of the early adopters getting hosed on pricing…meanwhile my Volt slowly ages. But your right! People make accusations unless they are the GM book keeper which I doubt. My 2 Chevy dealers have had 3 Blazers each in transit even before the hold started since Sept. And if they read the production counts not MANY Blazers were even made let alone delivered by YE. OMG.
Carl, let me introduce myself.
Nice to hear from you but we still don’t know each other.
According to recent statements, one in four Cadillac buyers bought electric last month, and that is with only one EV in the line-up available.
Yes Mr. Berg – the Cadillac Lyriq is a compelling product.
The several trim levels offered are a smart move…. I prefer something along the lines of the low-cost TECH trim that is affordable, and give you all the advantages of the LYRIQ without too much excessive gobbledygook.
My 2023 Luxury LYRIQ (only thing available to me at the time) constantly gets compliments…. I let it be known that I’m not thin-skinned so the only one who nit-picks about problems is me!
But overall it was a smart move (so far) to purchase one….. The car basically sells itself. This time they got the styling right. And I like it because it has decent room (categorized as a ‘mid-size’ SUV), and has battery range enough (330 miles in good weather, which is only somewhat reduced currently since it has a needed economical heat pump standard during our very cold winter months here), that it can actually go somewhere without constantly worrying about refueling.
I agree on the point of TECH line…but wish they added heating steering as included let alone offered!
Anybody else sick of continual pop up ads while trying to ready these fictitious stories
Yes. Yesterday I had 4 pop-ups. At the same time. I couldn’t even read the post. When you close them another one immediately pops up. If you try to close the pop-up you have a 50/50 chance of going to the pop-up ad. I am not going to spend money for an app to prevent spam.
I don’t get paid to say this, but I can’t stand pop-ups… Get the absolutely free Brave browser… It just works and no pop-ups.
Yes, especially the one where the idiots are laughing watching television
Install the Avira browswer ad/pop blocker. I never have any on Firefox with it installed. And on select sites you can turn it off which require it to be off to use their site. You can turn on and off these Avira settings. I would presume they might offer it on other major named browsers.
Settings
Dark mode
Show price comparisons
Send Do Not Track header
Anonymous Statistics
Block ads & web tracking
Block social media tracking
Do not block useful ads
Fully understand / respect they need the ad revenue, but at this current level of am radio-like “saturation” I’m simply making note not to include those products as part of any future purchase decision(s)…and visiting GMA way less.
I want one. I have one, a Cadillac Lyriq and it is simply outstanding. Test drive an EV and you’ll understand. If I didn’t have the Lyriq I’d get a Mustang Mach E. Get one now while some dealers are discounting. And you can get the Mach E with Bluecruise.
The problem with ford is they are NOT on their long term platform and slapping vehicles together like GM did uhum almost with the volt and bolt and those of us that choose to keep it very long are finding it very expensive to i.e. replace the battery and such. I am hoping my next GM with Ultium makes that less costly to do as it ages since its the platform that I expect to be in place and support for years to come.
ICE production fell 2-3% last year, hybrid and EV went up by a large percentage (percentage, but still not huge numbers)….I forget if that was for Ford or GM… pretty sure GM’s recent report.
A large percentage of a small number is still a small number, as you noted.
Definitely the best news of the year so far. Now let’s hope enough is learn from the missteps that they aren’t repeated.
I know of no firm data that shows EV demand is dropping. Where the subject is addressed, EV data I’ve seen shows long lines of people waiting to buy one.
The Wall Street Journal did print an article saying the dealers said people want hybrids. I’m skeptical. Most dealers make most of their money on maintenance and repairs. EV’s require much less maintenance than ICE. I’m thinking dealers are scared of EV’s, and are working to discredit EV’s. just as Uber drivers, taxi drivers, and the Teamsters work to discredit autonomous vehicles.
Congrats. Now get your 6.6 gas and Express lines up to full speed!
Who’s buying them??? They are sitting on dealers lots unsold gathering snow and dust. Used ones are sitting on used car lots at 50% discounts. GM is going back to building hybrid’s. I wouldn’t want one of those fire hazards in my garage.
Who’s buying them?
People who want to enjoy an incredible driving experience with more torque than they’ve ever had.
Every drive is fun.
I went from a Corvette C7 to Cadillac Lyriq
Test drive an EV and you’ll understand
Some can’t get beyond the thought. LOL…next.
I own a gorgeous C7 convertible that is amazing to drive and would out handle any overpriced overweight EV on the road today, You may slightly beat me off the line but I would pass you very shortly especially if you were waiting in line someplace for a charger. Trade it for an EV?? You have to be a sandwich short of a picnic, And yes, I’ve driven them…. not impressed. But glad you enjoy it.
EVs are really selling for years. Tesla is the third largest car maker in the U.S. selling hundreds of thousands per year, yet all their products are electric, and sold without any ads! Now I see more EV ads from Kia than gas car ads. But I have not seen any new EV ads from Cadillac, Chevy, or Ford.
LOL, Tesla ranks number 8 in US market share with 4%.
In 2023 one in eight cars sold in California was a Tesla. I don’t imagine the same thing is happening in Alabama or Wyoming, though. However, the total population in those two states is equal to about half of Los Angeles County.
It will not be fun iwhen the range drops from all those “fun” jackrabbit starts. For most, the torque may be fun for the first dozen times, but that practice does not lend itself to everyday driving.
Now explain something to me. You think that the gas car ratings dont drop when you warm it up 10 minutes in winter, or you jack rabbit run them or you speed above 55..55 NOT 65 75 80…55? And those dingy mile estimators dont tell the whole story. Jeez. But I guess you never bothered to wonder why your gas tank got empty more quickly because we just fill it up when we see a good price at a station…LOL.
EV’s are great commuter cars, IOW a good 2nd car. As of now, they are poor touring/long distance, traveling cars. I agree with the Toyota chairman in that (in my lifetime) they are not going to be the majority of cars sold. Of course, IF it gets to the point that you can 80% recharge in 10 minutes or less everywhere and conveniently, then all bets are off.
I would like to know if anyone has surveyed how many people who drive on the road yearly at more than a couple times? And for me I can live with the current 80% target charge rate once or twice a year while I take a pee, get coffee if not out right eat something after driving 4hrs!
Manjunk yeah I drive alot over the course of the year. I will drive 250 miles during very cold weather tomorrow with almost no opportunity to recharge but I do have a plan ‘b’ if I miscalculate.
I could not really survive with 3 Bevs currently if I didn’t have the Lyriq. Life would be just too hard otherwise.
I’m hoping battery technology gets just a bit better soon.
The upcoming Escalade IQ has the range I would like at a rated 450 miles but $130,000 to start? I doubt it.
So should then be at 40Gwh of battery cell production per year. Which is enough cells for about 400,000 100kwh battery packs per year.
I would like to see more winter testing electric vehicles not only dose it take more battery power to move the vehicle in winter also takes extra battery power to heat the cabin