GM's Mary Barra Has to Make a $35 Billion EV Bet Work in Trump's America
Businessweek
The Big Take
The US automaker is up against tariffs, an oil-loving president and Elon Musk in the White House.
By
The Ultium Cells factory outside Nashville spans five football fields and runs 24-7, cranking out 5,000 finished battery cells an hour. The site and a sister plant in Ohio are co-owned by General Motors Co. and South Korea's LG Energy Solution Ltd., and together they can make enough cells to build a new electric vehicle nearly every minute—most of them GM cars. Although the plants aren't near full capacity, they already produce more cells than Tesla Inc. does in North America.
Inside the factory, fewer than 250 workers on the day shift are watching computer screens or monitoring a network of chemical mixers, coating machines and drying ovens that brew the essential ingredients of a battery and slather the resulting slurry onto rolled-up metal sheets. The sheets are then cut and stuffed into pouches, which will serve as the battery cell, and are set to cure at about 140F (60C). Later, a system of shelves moving up, down and side to side stacks the cells, each long and slender like a giant envelope, on blue racks 40 feet high. In this rickhouse for high-tech spirits, the cells go through a sort of fermentation process known as finishing that lasts 10 days.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
GM to invest US$4 billion to increase US output
General Motors (GM) announced it plans to invest around US$ 4 billion in the next two years to strengthen its US vehicle production operations, in response to the recent import tariff hikes by the Trump-led US government. This new investment plan, which will result in the transfer of some production from Mexico, is in addition to the recently-announced US$ 888 million investment in the company's Tonawanda engine plant in New York State. GM confirmed it plans to increase its annual production capacity in the US to over two million battery-powered and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The plants that will benefit from the new investment include: Orion, Michigan, which will begin production of a ICE full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks in early 2027. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant will become the dedicated assembly location for the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ, and GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV. Fairfax, Kansas City, will produce ICE-powered Chevrolet Equinox from mid-2027 in response to strong demand for the recently redesigned model. The plant is also scheduled to produce the new Chevrolet Bolt EV by the end of 2025, with additional 'affordable' EV models set to follow later on. Spring Hill, Tennessee: GM plans to add the ICE-powered Chevrolet Blazer to the plant's line-up from 2027, to be produced alongside the Cadillac Lyriq and Visiq EVs and the Cadillac XT5. GM's CEO, Mary Barra, said in a statement: 'We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise. Today's announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the US and to support American jobs. We're focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.' The company pointed out that it currently has around fifty vehicle and parts manufacturing plants in 19 US states, including eleven vehicle assembly plants, employing a COMBINED one million people directly and indirectly, including at parts suppliers and dealers. GM's capital spending guidance remained unchanged at between US$ 10 billion and US$ 11 billion for 2025, rising slightly to between US$ 10 billion and US$ 12 billion in 2026 and 2027 to 'reflect increased investment in the US, the prioritization of key programs, and efficiency offsets.' "GM to invest US$4 billion to increase US output" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
Tesla faces protests in Austin over Musk's robotaxi plans
With Elon Musk looking to June 22 as his tentative start date for Tesla's pilot robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, protesters are voicing their opposition. Public safety advocates and political protesters, upset with Musk's work with the Trump administration, joined together in downtown Austin on Thursday to express their concerns about the robotaxi launch. Members of the Dawn Project, Tesla Takedown and Resist Austin say that Tesla's partially automated driving systems have safety problems. Tesla sells its cars with a standard Autopilot package, or a premium Full Self-Driving option (also known as FSD or FSD supervised), in the U.S. Automobiles with these systems, which include features like automatic lane keeping, steering and parking, have been involved in dozens of collisions, some fatal, according to data tracked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla's robotaxis, which Musk showed off in a video clip on X earlier this week, are new versions of the company's popular Model Y vehicles, equipped with a future release of Tesla's FSD software. That "unsupervised" FSD, or robotaxi technology, is not yet available to the public. Tesla critics with The Dawn Project, which calls itself a tech-safety and security education business, brought a version of Model Y with relatively recent FSD software (version 2025.14.9) to show residents of Austin how it works. In their demonstration on Thursday, they showed how a Tesla with FSD engaged zoomed past a school bus with a stop sign held out and ran over a child-sized mannequin that they put in front of the vehicle. Dawn Project CEO Dan O'Dowd also runs Green Hills Software, which sells technology to Tesla competitors, including Ford and Toyota. Stephanie Gomez, who attended the demonstration, told CNBC that she didn't like the role Musk had been playing in the government. Additionally, she said she has no confidence in Tesla's safety standards and said there's been a lack of transparency from Tesla regarding how its robotaxis will work. Another protester, Silvia Revelis, said she also opposed Musk's political activity, but that safety is the biggest concern. "Citizens have not been able to get safety testing results," she said. "Musk believes he's above the law." Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Edmunds
6 hours ago
- Edmunds
New Tesla Model S and Model X Cost More but Are Mostly the Same
What's new with the Model S and Model X? The biggest changes? Price hikes. All versions of the S and X are now $5,000 more than before. We break it down below. Model S Long Range: $86,630 Model S Plaid: $101,630 Model X All-Wheel Drive: $91,630 Model X Plaid: $106,630 The rest of the changes are varied, but most of them are minor. Most trims of the S and X look exactly the same as before on the outside, aside from the Model S Plaid, which has new bodywork that has been "optimized for high-speed stability," according to Tesla. Right. The Model S Long Range also gets 410 miles of range (5 more than before), and that's likely down to the new 19-inch wheel design, which is supposedly more aerodynamic and therefore more efficient. All cars get reworked suspensions that Tesla claims makes the ride smoother. The cars' interiors should also be quieter, and with less road and wind noise coming through thanks to a more effective active noise-cancelling system.
