The GM Ultium Cells LLC plant in Ohio has temporarily halted production of Ultium batteries due to an issue with emissions equipment.
According to a report from The Detroit News, the Ultium Cells plant – which is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solutions – voluntarily ceased production while it evaluated its air quality systems.
“Ultium Cells is conducting stack testing pursuant to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requirements and has contracted a third-party emissions testing company to confirm the design and performance of the activated carbon tower system that exhausts to the external environment from the degas process,” Ultium spokesperson Dallis Tripoulas stated in a prepared statement. “Until the system is validated through further testing and troubleshooting the degas process has been temporarily stopped voluntarily by the company. Ultium Cells is in compliance with applicable workplace safety requirements and is working quickly to resolve this disruption.”
As of the time of this writing, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has no involvement in this recent development. However, the federal administration does currently have four open investigations related to air quality inside the plant.
OSHA spokesperson Scott Allen stated that the agency “is working with the company to ensure that they are addressing air quality issues related to potential employee exposures. We currently have an active inspection ongoing related to this.”
Unfortunately for General Motors, this temporary lapse in Ultium battery production comes at an inconvenient time, as the all-electric 2024 Chevy Silverado EV is set to begin production at the GM Factory Zero plant (née GM Detroit-Hamtramck plant) very soon. Beyond that, the upcoming Chevy Blazer EV and Chevy Equinox EV are just on the horizon, meaning that demand for battery packs for GM electric vehicles will skyrocket in the near future.
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Comments
This is why shifting to E-humans is so important and carbon Emitting humans nEED to bE phasEd out.
ThE futurE is ElEctric!
Another excuse to delay EV launch. Great.
Like expected.
The great battery tragedy
Delays like this and slow production of GM BEVs are reasons why GM will not be catching Tesla in 2025. GM has too much to learn. Complications they never dreamed of in producing an all new BEV. Meanwhile Tesla is working on the fine points of production and cost reduction.
And Tesla has the worst reliability in the industry !!
In the most recent surveys they have the highest number of issues per 100 vehicles.
Terrible hot take, as GM has designed and launched, and remains launching several more EVs, in the same time that Tesla has announced the Cybertruck and delivered zero. Copying their past work and making small iterations isn’t exactly leaps and bounds here. GM has a heavier burden to lift, but can do so adeptly when properly positioned.
The battle for EV market share will be a blood bath. Engineering, materials, production, and warranty costs are going to be huge factors as production exceeds demand and a price war begins.
No manufacturer is guaranteed to survive the battle. I bet on Tesla early and was rewarded handsomely by their stock. We do own one Tesla which has been a good car but not great. I do love driving an EV.
who will buy the cars after all the workers are unemployed? a lot of people are needed to put drive trains together. won’t be needed.
Evs are going to be a mega disaster… a trainwreck is coming… Wait for it..
I think I’ll go get my deposit back.