(St. Joseph County, IN) - Outside of New Carlisle, construction on the Amazon data center is going strong. But the General Motors battery plant seems to be losing its charge.

 

Last week GM and Samsung finalized their partnership on the project, but said that production will be about a year behind schedule.

 

According to St. Joseph County Economic Development Director Bill Schalliol, GM is adjusting its production timeline to meet market demands. “They opened three battery plants all about the same time and didn’t have a lot of vehicle product to put the batteries into,” he said. “So I think they had to kind of let the market catch up.” GM is already producing batteries at new plants in Ohio and Tennessee, with another under construction in Lansing, Michigan. “It’s a huge learning curve,” said Schalliol. “I think their expectations for moving faster maybe didn’t meet the market demands.”

 

Other automakers are also pulling back on EV production. Two weeks ago, Ford announced that it is modifying plans for a large electric SUV and pushing back production on an electric F-150. Industry experts say EV sales are up, but not as brisk as anticipated.

 

Battery production in New Carlisle was expected in 2026. Schalliol says December of ‘07 is now more likely. In the meantime, he says work is continuing at the 680-acre site, just at a slower pace. “They’ve never stopped work on the site,” he noted. “They’ve stretched the work out a little bit." Schalliol says contractors are meeting milestone agreements for progress on construction: “They do have people on site doing site grading, doing site work.”

 

The $3.5 billion plant is the largest EV investment in state history. When it opens, GM expects to employ 1,600 workers at an average wage of $24 an hour.