Normal Motors’ CAMI Meeting electrical car plant in Ingersoll, Ontario has reportedly closed for the month and idled its workforce unexpectedly.
In response to The London Free Press (through Electrek) citing the Unifor union representing the employees, the rationale for the closure is a battery scarcity. The manufacturing unit assembles the BrightDrop Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 electrical supply vans, that are powered by GM’s Ultium battery.
Since there’s excessive demand for the Ultium battery in different GM electrical autos, the automaker determined to briefly shut CAMI Meeting. Restricted manufacturing of BrightDrop vans will shutter the plant regardless of sturdy gross sales, mentioned Mike Van Boekel, Unifor Native 88 chairperson.
“They’re out in any respect GM vegetation, they want batteries and it stems from a uncooked materials bottleneck. Gross sales are by the roof. Issues are good, however we simply haven’t got batteries,” mentioned Van Boekel.
He added that CAMI Meeting has about 4 years of orders on the books and “GM is constructing extra batteries, but it surely would not occur in a single day.”
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Normal Motors employs about 1,500 folks on the website in Ingersoll. Earlier than the shutdown, employees had been on rotating shifts, two weeks on and 4 weeks off, to maintain everybody employed. Staff had been making 60 % of their pay from employment insurance coverage advantages and a top-up when off the job.
Understandably, GM’s determination to shut the plant for the remainder of the month didn’t go down properly with the workers. “Individuals are pissed off. They wish to work, they wish to earn money. Prices hold going up,” mentioned Van Boekel. Staff are anticipated to return to work July 31.
GM at the moment makes Ultium batteries solely on the Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown, Ohio, however plans to open a second in Tennessee in 2024 and a 3rd in Michigan in 2025.
Nonetheless, sources near CAMI Meeting have reported GM Canada is constructing a 400,000-square-foot (37,200-square-metre) addition to the Ingersoll plant the place the carmaker will assemble its personal batteries for the BrightDrop vans. In response to business analysts, GM is on monitor to promote greater than 70,000 EVs this 12 months, principally Bolt EV and EUV which don’t characteristic Ultium batteries.
Electrical car batteries use metals together with lithium, cobalt, and nickel. A lot of those metals are sourced abroad, with China a serious producer. There are looming threats worldwide of shortages for nickel, lithium, graphite, and cobalt.