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This month, General Motors Co. (GM) will host a grand opening event for its new Factory ZERO in Detroit-Hamtramck, which will be used to build electric vehicles. 

According to GM representatives, this grand opening signals the automaker is “on target” to launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2025. That keeps GM on track to reach its goal for its North American EV assembly capacity to reach 20% and climb to 50% by 2030. 

“I see a strong EV landscape in 2022, but in 2023, it really turns on,” said Mary Barra, chief executive officer of GM. 

Currently in its fleet of electric vehicles are the Chevrolet Bolt TV and EUV, both of which are assembled at GM’s factory in Orion Township.   

Factory ZERO was previously called Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and was initially scheduled to be one of five North American factories permanently closed. But in 2019, during labor negotiations, GM committed to $2.2 billion to retool the plan to make electric vehicles there.   

The automaker’s goal is to employ 2,200 people at Factory ZERO once it is fully running, which is double the number of people employed there when the factory initially closed. They plan to call back hourly workers who want to work at the plant before the end of the year and start hiring additional workers in 2022. 

GM has even started the Automotive Manufacturing Electrical College to train existing and new employees on building electric vehicles, following their commitment that no hourly or salary workers will lose their jobs in the transition to electric. 

In early October 2021, Factory ZERO started building pre-production Hummer EV pick-up trucks. The automaker currently has about 10,000 pre-orders for the truck. Once production begins, GM will begin delivering the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq all-electric SUV to customers next spring.

With this increase in interest in electric vehicles, GM shared it will build a new EV truck plant in the U.S. and two more battery plants by the middle of the decade. It is currently building two battery plants with LG Electronics and Ultium LLC, located in Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee. 

Written by Krishaun Burns, Let’s Detroit