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GM heralded this plant as a model for its electric car future. Then its batteries started exploding.
Technology
GM heralded this plant as a model for its electric car future. Then its batteries started exploding.
The company had to recall 141,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, a microcosm of the challenge GM faces as it aims to shift its production to all-electric
General Motors employees work on a production line at Orion Assembly in Orion Township, Mich., on July 21. The plant has been closed since August because of problems with the lithium-ion batteries that go into Chevrolet Bolts produced there. (Nic Antaya for The Washington Post)
By Faiz Siddiqui
December 30, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST
ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Before General Motors recalled the entire fleet of its most popular electric car because of fire dangers, before her factory was stilled, assembly line worker Carol McConkey stood in the middle of a teeming factory floor and marveled at how seamlessly the Chevrolet Bolt is manufactured.
The nine-year GM employee ducked under a car frame on an orange vehicle carrier, swung a mechanical arm out and drove five bolts into a nearly 1,000-pound battery pack with roughly the footprint of a bathtub.
“It does a lot of it by itself,” she said, describing the automation-heavy process at a GM plant that has gone from building gasoline-powered cars to making electric vehicles — the first such GM plant, which was soon followed by a second, a 30-minute drive down Interstate 75. “To me, it’s just a battery we plug in.”
But there is no mistaking its significance. “It’s the heart of the car,” McConkey said one day this past summer.
{snip}
Joel Newsom works at Orion Assembly in July. “GM is preaching the future for us; we can’t always base it on fossil fuels,” he said, but an electric vehicle doesn’t fit his family’s needs. (Nic Antaya for The Washington Post)
{snip}
By Faiz Siddiqui
Faiz Siddiqui is a reporter with The Washington Post's technology team. His coverage includes Silicon Valley's ride-hailing giants, nascent mobility startups and companies deploying electric and self-driving vehicles. Twitter https://twitter.com/faizsays
GM heralded this plant as a model for its electric car future. Then its batteries started exploding.
The company had to recall 141,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, a microcosm of the challenge GM faces as it aims to shift its production to all-electric
General Motors employees work on a production line at Orion Assembly in Orion Township, Mich., on July 21. The plant has been closed since August because of problems with the lithium-ion batteries that go into Chevrolet Bolts produced there. (Nic Antaya for The Washington Post)
By Faiz Siddiqui
December 30, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST
ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Before General Motors recalled the entire fleet of its most popular electric car because of fire dangers, before her factory was stilled, assembly line worker Carol McConkey stood in the middle of a teeming factory floor and marveled at how seamlessly the Chevrolet Bolt is manufactured.
The nine-year GM employee ducked under a car frame on an orange vehicle carrier, swung a mechanical arm out and drove five bolts into a nearly 1,000-pound battery pack with roughly the footprint of a bathtub.
“It does a lot of it by itself,” she said, describing the automation-heavy process at a GM plant that has gone from building gasoline-powered cars to making electric vehicles — the first such GM plant, which was soon followed by a second, a 30-minute drive down Interstate 75. “To me, it’s just a battery we plug in.”
But there is no mistaking its significance. “It’s the heart of the car,” McConkey said one day this past summer.
{snip}
Joel Newsom works at Orion Assembly in July. “GM is preaching the future for us; we can’t always base it on fossil fuels,” he said, but an electric vehicle doesn’t fit his family’s needs. (Nic Antaya for The Washington Post)
{snip}
By Faiz Siddiqui
Faiz Siddiqui is a reporter with The Washington Post's technology team. His coverage includes Silicon Valley's ride-hailing giants, nascent mobility startups and companies deploying electric and self-driving vehicles. Twitter https://twitter.com/faizsays