Remember about 20 years back, when the humongous General Motors Hummer was the king of the road? That triumph in automotive marketing died quickly when gas skyrocketed and the Hummer became an unofficial persona non grata of gas guzzling vehicles. But wait, it’s back! And this time the $85,000-$110,000 Hummer is an EV and the wait list just topped 77,000 perspective customers.
GM’s renovated Detroit factory, where about 700 workers build the Hummer, has been producing only around a dozen of the trucks a day, writes The Wall Street Journal (June 30, 2022). That is a 17.5 year wait and an unusually slow pace for a vehicle in production for more than 6 months. The Hummer trails rival offerings from Ford and Rivian Automotive.
Hummer production at GM’s Factory Zero, which underwent a $2.2 billion overhaul to build electric trucks, has been slower than normal in part because the truck was developed from scratch using a new electric-vehicle platform. “Our ability to satisfy that demand is only going to improve as we bring on vertical integration of battery cell production,” says a GM exec.
Auto makers are pushing to get electrics to market while also grappling with a computer-chip shortage and other supply-chain constraints (such as batteries) that have curbed vehicle output and sales. The Hummer EV’s battery pack is heavier than the overall weight of a Honda Civic, and is 1/3 of the vehicle’s weight.
Compared to the Hummer, Ford is making about 150 of its F-150 Lightning electric pickups per day at the company’s factory in nearby Dearborn, Mich. In the coming months, GM expects to fulfill deliveries at a much faster pace, particularly after it switches from using outsourced LG battery cells. It aims to start manufacturing its own battery cells later this summer in its new factory in Ohio. The company has been building multiple battery factories in the US over the past year, including one in Tennessee and another in Michigan in addition to its Ohio plant, as part of its efforts to achieve its goal of making more than a million EVs in the US every year by the end of 2025.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What are the main supply chain issues facing Hummer?
- Why is production so low?