On October 17th, 2023 General Motors announced a delay in producing its full-size electric pickup trucks. The company stated that the factory of Orion Township, Michigan, will work on electric Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierras pickups in late 2025. Previously, the company had made plans to start production in 2024.
This delay can be the earliest sign of trouble for the auto manufacturing company’s multibillion-dollar plan to move to electric vehicles.


After years of rapid growth, the demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. has started to level off. Almost 111,000 EV units were sold in August, equaling 8.3% of the total market. However, in September, the sales dropped to under 106,000, or 7.9% of the market.
GM believes that this delay in production will allow them to add some engineering alterations that will assist in producing profitable electric trucks. The GM spokesperson Kelly also added that the delay is unrelated to the ongoing UAW strike.


The production of the GMC Hummer EV is also in progress, with about 11,058 units produced by the end of July. GM aimed to produce 400,000 EVs by the end of 2023, but the goal was pushed to mid-2024 last year.
The talks also highlight that the company’s current contract proposals are expected to be more expensive than in previous years.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-delays-ev-pickup-expansion-due-to-evolving-ev-demand-192053645.html
Meanwhile, Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models are being built at Orion. However, GM plans to end the production by the end of 2023. Also, the 2nd generation of popular Bolt models is expected, but the production timeframe has not been announced yet.


The company also plans to transfer 1,000 workers at Orion Assembly to their other Michigan factories, including the Detroit Factory Zero, which already produces the Silverado EV and GMC Hummer EV pickups. GM’s Factory Zero plant will continue growing low-volume Cruise Origin and Chevrolet Silverado. The GMC Sierra EV will be added to the mix in 2024.


For months, GM has been pointing to the supply of battery cells as the prime factor in slowing down the production ramp to its next-generation Ultium EVs.


Ultium Cells LLC is a joint venture between LG and GM. Their facility is in Lordstown, Ohio, with two more facilities to be launched in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing, Michigan. They are producing large-scale pouch cells in a manner that has not been used by other EV makers so far.


A $2.5 billion DOE loan backs up the venture. In April, the GM also announced a $3 billion joint venture with Samsung SDI to make cylindrical batteries like that used by Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian.


Earlier in October, GM reported that in the third quarter of the year, only 18 Silverado EV units were delivered.
From December 2021, when General Motors made their first delivery of the GMC Hummer EV, to September 2023, the manufacturers could deliver only 2,071 GMC Hummer EV pickups.


During that time, LG supplied new battery packs for many Bolt EVs from previous model years and enough battery packs for record manufacturing of the Blot RB and Bolt EUV in 2023. The total number of Bolt EV and EUV models sold in the U.S. and Canada through September is more than 39,000.


At the same time, the LG factory in Michigan is due for an expansion to manage the order from Toyota for a U.S.-made EV in 2025.