Construction on the Ultium Cells plant in Lansing, Michigan has achieved a significant milestone this week, with two million hours of labor now clocked by the construction crews building the facility, GM’s Ultium Cells LLC subsidiary announced this week.
The Ultium Cells Lansing plant is now 35 percent complete according to the announcement, three months before the second anniversary of workers breaking ground at the site in June 2022.
The two million hour landmark was saluted by a special event at the partially completed factory by the privately held construction company Barton Malow. Construction manager Chris Peterson said the raw number of work hours put in is not the biggest success so far.
Instead, he pointed to “the teamwork and cooperation that has been performed collaboratively among the client, contractors and local union labor to achieve what we have thus far.” He added that Barton Malow is “thankful to be working with professional and talented Michigan tradespeople who make it all possible.”
Ultium Cells LLC says the plant is built around a central corridor extending the full width of the facility, or about half a mile, creating an “innovative open floor plan” that will be easy to expand in the future. Once completed, the current plant will be able to churn out 36 GWh of Ultium batteries per year to support The General’s push to electrify its vehicle lineup.
The steel structure of the Ultium Cells Lansing factory was completed almost exactly one year ago in early March 2023. At the time, it was predicted 500,000 construction hours would be needed to finish the plant and that it would be fully built sometime in late 2024. Currently, the facility is said to be on schedule to start production in early 2025.
The factory held a job fair early this year and is picking up the pace of hiring, looking to fill out its anticipated roster of about 1,700 employees by the time plant is ready to go fully operational.
The plant director Grace Griffin says that “with the support of the greater Lansing region and Michigan, we are progressing toward a successful launch.”
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Comments
Hopefully this will be the end of their EV growing pains.
Considering that the Model Y is the most popular vehicle in the world today and the most manufactured, surpassing the F150, Corolla, and Rav4, GM has a lot of catching up to do.
Is it too late to call the Pro Desk at Lowe’s and cancel that order? “Hello, Lowe’s Pro Desk? NEVERMIND!” 😉
Let’s go FLAWLESS
“FLAWLESS” isn’t likely going to happen pretty much anywhere in the current global climate of doom, gloom and increasing taxes. It has rarely ever been flawless and wasn’t/isn’t associated with any single product manufacturer brand, whether it is vehicles, appliances, industry, construction, health care and the food chain.
In the world of assembling critical components of high voltage electrical energy storage systems, there have been issues associated with build quality of the pouches and more, that while tested, ultimately still resulted in flaws. Quality control is an absolute necessity to create safe and reliable products. Tighter control over manufacturing quality is needed at every step.
The stark reality is that humans make mistakes, are sometimes lazy or lack focus in the working world, due to stressors that only seem to increase daily in the current world climate. Every mental distraction, increases the possibility of generating flaws that are unacceptable. In the past 20 years or so, it seems that we have become accustomed to a lack of quality products in most every aspect of our lives.
What many the “Mary haters” don’t understand or refuse to relate to, is that since the ignition switch fiasco, the rule and her mandate is transparency, not hiding the flaws that happen everywhere as they always did and were handled internally and through the dealership service departments.
If the flaws were not aired, most everyone wouldn’t bat and eyelid at an occasional airing. However, with increased transparency, as soon as faults are disclosed, the grumbling becomes an endless tirade from those who do not understand all aspects of supply chains, assembly, programming and service, that can affect overall product quality and the ownership experience.
Apart from the war-torn countries in which some are/were vehicle manufacturer supply chain vendors, COVID-19 was a huge interrupter and disrupter in every aspect of daily life globally.
Lay-offs due to manufacturing down-time for supply chains and vehicle manufacturers alike, resulted in a major mind shift, especially here in North America where instead of the old “live to work” ways were replaced with “work to live”. We can’t blame the Millenials and other subsequent generations. There were always those who really didn’t care much or put forth a good effort in their work and lives.
There was during this time (and I really hate using these two words but they fit), a “paradigm shift” in work ethics, beliefs and some resistance to returning to pre-COVID work places and performing at top level.
Maybe it’s a lack of enthusiasm or motivation after some extended down time, I don’t know, but there have clearly been some negative psychological effects, if we look at some in the working population.
COVID became the “cop-out” excuse for a reduction in quality, availability and performance, but there has been a lasting effect on the outlook of the working population, that is hard to pinpoint or explain away as simple laziness or a lack of skills.
Those not aware of the significantly increased transparency mandate, this think that flaws are something new, but the reality is that they are not. They are simply in full view instead of being dealt with behind closed doors, or not.
Every day seemingly forever, technical bulletins, product information memos and engineering documents have come to light to those of us working in the service bays and training. These are common experiences no matter what vehicle manufacturer name is “on the building”. Transparency now puts these into the public perspective.
Most every vehicle manufacturer has the same/very similar types of faults, simply because they typically use the same group of vendor supply companies. Some supply and deliver, while others build on site at the vehicle assembly plant.
If anyone thinks that electrical and software concerns are isolated to one manufacturer, then their heads must be buried in the sand. The manufacturer’s round tables expose common supply chain and assembly faults.
Electrical harness and connectors and installation to vehicles are manufactured by hands, not machines, although machine terminal crimping is the norm.
I have a fiend who was once a Datsun technician, later led and retired from the field engineering department lead from Nissan. He moved to take a service manager position with a BMW dealership and discovered the “chamber of electrical horrors” that BMW vehicles experience.
Some brands that people falsely believe, or are led to believe to be flawless and superior to all others, are riddled with problems that are not aired publicly. Technicians see, hear and share these issues across the brands. It is almost amusing to hear Toyota owners waffle on about their vehicles, because they have flaws like others do.
FWIW, the same individuals whom assemble GM products one day in Detroit, could well be working across town at one of the other manufacturers a week later.
E.G. Cracked and porous cylinder blocks have been around across manufacturers for many, many years. We stitch repaired Mazda cylinder blocks in the ’70s, that cracked between the oil and coolant galleries.
Hondas have had their share of block porosity over the years and the self-proclaimed elitist models from BMW, Mercedes et al, have some poor track records in quality that are well-known by those working on the brands.
Telsa, well there’s another “mythbelief” about quality, which is a joke to many working on them and some whom own them who are willing to disclose the flaws. Dealerships won’t even take Teslas in on trade. Fit, finish and other gremlins plague the brand enough that technicians learn to “run” like Forrest Gump. As long as folks think that Teslas are some elite brand and keep on lining Elon “Must’s” pockets, that’s okay.
Instead though, let’s jump all over GM for being as transparent as possible, compared to some cross town rivals and domesticated imports that wait to get caught out in enough numbers to generate a mandated awareness.
For sure, FLAWLESS would be nice, but that’s a dream in the world in which we reside today.
No matter whether its motor vehicles and any other commodity, including healthcare and politics, it’s about people and the less interested we are in our work, the increased potential for flaws exists.
Those men and women who go to work daily in whatever role they/we serve with a positive attitude, are skilled/trained and care about their work, typically generate better outcomes across the board. If only there were more………
What an outstanding accesment of “Flawless” and lazy work ethits .I totally agree that Covid changed a lot of our daily activities including the just sit at home attitude. Enjoyed the transparency of GM exects and the lack of from all others. All humans make mistakes. No one is perfect. Do the best you can and own up to your faults and correct them or you will fail at what ever you do. Or you can do nothing and you will be a failure in life.
By the time they get this place built, Toyota and BYD will have perfected solid state batteries with 30% greater range and 100% less likely to catch on fire. Anybody wanna bet that 4 million man hours was the tendered bid to build this place?
BYD = “Burn Your Dreams” and that’s no joke! Even the most current BYD models self-ignite while sitting powered down.
Also, take some time to view some of the accidents involving BYDs that disintegrate completely upon accident impact to get a dose of reality.
FWIW, Toyota’s water engine is a flop and they are not the only company working on solid state battery technologies.
Same for hydrogen, others came long before Toyota and focus hydrogen use in areas where it makes the most sense in heavy duty and industry.
Ultium is just another example of what a clueless DUMP Michigan is.
Run by an gynocratic Idiocracy of Whitmer, Benson, Nessel,
they have their heads so far up, they’re popping up through their shoulders again.
Solid state batteries aren’t expected to hit mass production until 2027…….
Probably correct but a lot of money being spent on a system that will not solve the energy crisis or save the planet. There are just to many people in this world and to many asphalt jungles. We will run out monry and food before we use up fossil fuels.
What an outstanding accesment of “Flawless” and lazy work ethits .I totally agree that Covid changed a lot of our daily activities including the just sit at home attitude. Enjoyed the transparency of GM exects and the lack of from all others. All humans make mistakes. No one is perfect. Do the best you can and own up to your faults and correct them or you will fail at what ever you do. Or you can do nothing and you will be a failure in life.
Can someone please explain how they’re gonna keep brakes on the Hummer, Silverado and Sierra EV when these vehicles weigh between 8 and 9 thousand pounds? That’s a lot of rolling mass to bring to a stop! And what about tire wear, I heard that’s a big problem with Tesla?
It’s simple. An incredibly high percentage of braking on EVs is using the electric motors to regenerate electricity, almost down to zero mph, where friction braking is blended and finally takes over.
Take the Bolt as an example. Using one pedal driving, the aggressive braking generation that is available is phenominal. Pull on the steering wheel paddle and the vehicle virtually stands on it’s nose down to almost 0 mph
Selecting gear shift Low “range” (there is no Low in a single speed Electric Drive Unit (EDU) transaxle, results in more aggressive regenerative braking retardation than normal.
Vehicles weighing in at similar weights to the Hummer and EV pickups stop just fine with modern braking system friction components technology and transmission retardation. Electric motors switch to aggressive regenerative braking and blend with friction braking when necessary.
Having captured session logs, plotted and reviewed graphs of regenerative, blended and friction braking on Volts and Bolts, I don’t expect any significant issues with the larger, heavier vehicles.
“aggressive regenerative braking retardation” – perfect description summing up the EV experience. Thank you.
They will use electric brakes what other choice do they have. Really, take your foot off the accelerater and electric motors should help slow the heavy stuff some. I’m sure they have it figured out to last at least till warranty expires.
This battery plant is shut down- how is this not being reported?
It hasn’t opened yet. It’s still under construction, not scheduled to begin production until 2025.