Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

General Motors (GM) has suspended production of some of its electric vehicles due to a shortage of new Ultium battery packs in electric vehicles.

GM's start-up brand BrightDrop makes electric vans for companies such as FedEx and Verizon. BrightDrop's factory in Ingersoll Rand, Canada, has stopped producing electric cars because of a lack of Ultium batteries.

General Motors Chairman Mary Barra introduced the BrightDrop brand of electric vans for the first time in her keynote speech at the 2021 International Consumer Electronics Show. It is reported that the electric van, like the electric Hummer, is equipped with GM's new Ultium battery.

BrightDrop began producing electric vans in late 2021, initially under a contract with a company in Michigan, when GM was revamping its CAMI plant in Ingersoll Rand, Canada. The CAMI plant began producing BrightDrop electric vans in December 2022, and orders were placed several years later. Now, due to the shortage of battery packs in the electric van, some customers will eventually have to wait longer.

This is not the first time that Ultium battery problems have affected GM's production of electric vehicles. In 2022, GM was forced to suspend sales of BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric vans and Hummer electric vehicles because the battery packs were poorly sealed and could flood.

The same is true of GM's other electric car, the Cadillac Lyriq. Last June, GM said it would increase production of the Cadillac Lyriq in its first year to 25000 vehicles because of increased demand, but delivered only 122 Cadillac Lyriq electric vehicles for the whole of 2022. Although things have improved this year, GM delivered only 2438 Cadillac Lyriq electric vehicles as of the end of June.

GM currently has only one operating Ultium battery plant, a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions in Lodstown, Ohio. And the operation of the battery is also stumbling. The plant stopped production at the end of June to solve emissions problems, just as GM plans to start producing other electric vehicles, such as Chevrolet Silverado electric pickups with Ultium batteries. At the same time, safety issues such as a car fire at the Lourdes town plant prompted the United Auto Workers (UAW) to negotiate with GM to provide workers with better safe working conditions.

A second Ultium battery plant in Springhill, Tennessee is under construction and is expected to open later in 2023, while a third Ultium battery plant in Delta, Mich., will open in 2024. But GM's fourth planned Ultium plant in Indiana may not take place. LG Energy Solutions is also a partner in GM's Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, and manufacturing defects have forced GM to recall all Bolt electric vehicles and replace battery packs.

A GM spokesman said, "We have been working hard to solve the supply problem and plan to provide an update on electric vehicle production during the earnings call on July 25." In addition, the company said that electric vehicle production is still going according to plan. "We are expected to produce 50,000 electric vehicles in North America in the first half of the year, and our targets for the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024 remain unchanged. Production of batteries and Ultium Platform platform models is on the rise." GM had previously said it would produce 1 million electric vehicles a year in North America by 2025.

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