At the current rate of output, anyone reserving a Hummer EV today would be left waiting 17 years before it's delivered.
As The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal reports, General Motors has a hit on its hands in the form of the all-electric Hummer EV pickup truck. More than 77,000 people want to buy the $100,000 vehicle, which boasts a 350-mile range, but there's one big problem: GM is only producing a dozen of them each day.
In order to manufacture the Hummer EV, GM spent $2.2 billion renovating one of its factories in Detroit to become Factory Zero for electric vehicle production. There's currently 700 workers building the Hummer, but it's slow going. For now, the required batteries (which weigh more than most small cars), are being shipped in from LG. According to a GM spokesperson, however, everything is running on schedule for an electric vehicle the company created from scratch.
GM expects output to "increase sharply" in the second half of 2022, mainly because the company will start using its own batteries produced in an Ohio factory. They will still technically be LG batteries as the South Korean company entered into a joint venture with GM to build the factory.
A sharp increase in production will be welcomed by anyone who has reserved the new Hummer, but what does that mean in terms of actual output? According to the GM spokesman, "You can expect to see hundreds of deliveries grow to thousands later this year." It's no longer possible to reserve the $110,000 Hummer EV Edition 1, but the $105,000 EV3X (Fall 2022), $94,650 EV2X (Spring 2023), and $84,650 EV2 (Spring 2024) are still available.