Years ago, General Motors talked of launching a plethora of new EV models and dialing up production. CEO Mary Barra continues to share that the goal is to be capable of producing 1 million EVs in North America by 2025 on the way to topping Tesla as the EV sales leader. However, its US battery factories are making slow progress, and thus far, it hasn't released the vast majority of those new electric cars.
According to a recent analysis compiled for Reuters, General Motors' EV production by 2025 could be limited to less than 600,000 units thanks to battery bottlenecks. AutoForecast Solutions notes that manufacturing over a half million electric vehicles in 2025 will be no easy task based on GM's battery production plans.
Meanwhile, the Big Three automaker insists it hasn't changed its guidance. The targets do, however, include cumulative EV production from 2022 to 2024 as recently clarified by CEO Mary Barra. AutoForecast Solutions estimates that GM will produce about 76,000 EVs in North America in 2023 and 328,000 in 2024. The automaker has not officially shared its actual production targets for 2024 or 2025.
Gallery: 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV
GM will rely on three battery factories in the US. The first already opened in Ohio, and the second factory in Tennessee is due to begin making batteries in early 2024. The third factory is expected to open in Michigan a year later. All the domestic EVs GM has been touting for years will use Ultium battery packs built at one of the three factories in the US, which together should eventually be able to provide enough packs for 1.35 million EVs annually.
That said, with one of the three factories not even opening until 2025, and the other sometime the year before, it seems almost impossible that all three could be ramped up to full production capacity by 2025. Still, GM reiterated less than a year ago that it will have enough materials to produce 1 million electric cars per year in North America by 2025. This is to say it will be capable, but not necessarily put into practice by that time.
The Reuters analysis goes on to add that while GM is putting together a massive global battery supply chain, some deals won't even come into play until beyond 2025. Moreover, much can happen between now and when those deals pan out, and there's no way to know for sure if there will be shortages, supply chain hiccups, etc.
Added to all of this, GM just announced that it will discontinue its only affordable EVs – the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV – which are beginning to gain much popularity and sell well. Meanwhile, it also offers the super-pricey GMC Hummer EV and the luxury Cadillac Lyriq crossover. However, it hasn't yet ramped up production of either model.
