Ultium Cells LLC, GM's battery cell joint venture with LG Chem, is progressing in Lordstown, Ohio.
Construction is underway for the 3 million-square-foot battery cell manufacturing facility, which, if you're struggling to visualize, is about the size of 30 football fields. The plant will have an annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt hours, and room for expansion.
Ultium announced Thursday that it will hire 1,100 workers who will manufacture battery cells for the new GMC Hummer EV, the Cadillac LYRIQ and Cruise Origin. The company made the announcement and called for job seekers to start applying on the Ultium Cells website.
Right now, of the 1,100, they're hiring 14. The workforce is out there: nearly 1,700 hourly employees lost their jobs in March 2019 when the last Chevy Cruze rolled off the assembly line in Lordstown.
The 14 positions will help set up and launch battery cell manufacturing. GM says additional job openings will be posted as they become available.
According to GM, the automaker is investing billions in U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing, which includes part of the $2.3 billion price tag for the Ultium facility. The company is also on the hook for $28 million in Ohio tax incentives that it had to pay back after GM shuttered the old Lordstown Assembly plant, as well as an additional $12 million towards "community support programs" in the area.
Ultium hopes to develop and mass-produce battery cells that drive down costs once at full volume.
In the past month, GM has been busy in its pursuit of an all-electric future, including the unveiling of Factory ZERO, an all-electric vehicle assembly plant, the GMC Hummer EV, and GM’s recent investment of $2 billion to transition its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant to build electric vehicles, including the Cadillac LYRIQ.
In a statement, Ken Morris, GM vice president of Autonomous and Electric Vehicle Programs, said, “We want to put everyone in an EV.” Now, we just need to make sure that everyone wants to drive one — and can afford one.
