GM Begins Hiring Process at Ultium Cells Battery Plant
LORDSTOWN, Ohio – General Motors is starting the process to hire more than 1,000 positions at its Ultium Cells LLC battery cell manufacturing plant here.
The company announced Thursday that job seekers may apply for positions on the Ultium Cells LLC website. The plant will begin hiring for key positions to execute the set up and launch of battery cell manufacturing, GM said. Additional job openings will be posted to the website as they become available.
Among the “hot openings,” according to the site, are production engineer, purchasing analyst and controls engineer.
“Ultium Cells’ team is comprised of some of the finest minds in the automotive and electronics industries, but we are looking for more of those rare individuals,” the website states. “We need technology-savvy people to fill roles across our organization—manufacturing, administration, and more. Our leadership prioritizes health and safety, encourages employee engagement, welcomes diversity, and promotes an atmosphere of inclusiveness.”
Employee benefits include an on-site cafeteria and as much as “$20,000+ in educational support annually.” Holiday pay, health benefits and discount of cars with Ultium Cells, all beginning at the first day of employment.
“We are excited to share our vision of an all-electric future as we begin adding members to our highly-technical battery cell manufacturing team,” said Thomas Gallagher, plant director, in a statement. “This facility will lead us into a new era of manufacturing and sustainability as we push toward a zero-emissions future. We are very grateful for the Lordstown community’s continued support.”
GM’s announcement noted that it is investing billions of dollars in its United States facilities to support electric vehicle manufacturing, including its share of the $2.3 billion investment in the Ultium Cells plant. The plant will be about the size of 30 football fields and have annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt hours and room for expansion.
“We want to put everyone in an EV,” said Ken Morris, GM vice president of autonomous and electric vehicle programs. “The Ultium propulsion system allows us to provide customers with exactly what they want – whether it be a car, truck or SUV. Our joint venture with LG Chem is exciting because we’re working together to drive down battery cell costs to accelerate EV adoption.”
The joint venture to develop and mass-produce battery cells is expected to drive cell costs below $100 per kilowatt-hour at full volume, and the new Ultium batteries are expected to have some of the highest nickel and lowest cobalt content in a large format pouch cell.
In the past month, GM said it has made significant strides toward its all-electric, zero-emissions future, including the recent unveiling of Factory ZERO, an all-electric vehicle assembly plant that will serve as the launchpad for GM’s multi-brand EV strategy; the reveal of the highly-anticipated GMC Hummer EV; and GM’s recent investment of $2 billion to transition its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant to build electric vehicles, including Cadillac Lyriq.
Also Thursday, GM posted huge third quarter numbers, pulling in $4 billion in profit over three months, after a short money-losing stretch as the spread of COVID-19 shut down all U.S. auto factories.
GM’s adjusted earnings were $2.83 per share, easily outpacing Wall Street’s per-share projections of $1.43, according to a survey by FactSet. Revenue of $35.5 billion was about in line.
The company swung back strongly from a $806 million loss in the second quarter when it was restarting factories shuttered for safety during the early stages of the pandemic.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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