General Motors announced on Wednesday it is accelerating plans to upgrade Factory ZERO, its first fully dedicated EV assembly plant. The automaker says the accelerated plans are needed to increase production to meet a rising number of reservations for its EVs, particularly the Silverado EV.
The Silverado EV was first announced earlier this year on January 5, and is scheduled to enter production in the spring of 2023. The electric truck proved immediately popular with the company racking up more than 110,000 reservations within the first month.
By the end of July that figure had grown to more than 150,000.
While announcing its Q3 production and delivery figures today, GM says there are now approximately 170,000 reservations for the Silverado EV.
Due to the increasing demand, GM said it would move up plans to upgrade the body shop at Factory ZERO. The automaker said it would also be “taking other steps to prepare to scale EV production in 2023.”
GM also cited the popularity of the Hummer EV for the accelerated plans. Last month they stopped taking reservations after accumulating more than 90,000 of them.
While the upgrades are completed GM will halt production of the Hummer EV “for several weeks starting in late November,” GM explained.
Factory ZERO is formerly GMs Detroit-Hamtrack plant and was built in 1985. The company announced in 2019 it was transforming the plant into Factory ZERO with a $2.2 billion investment, officially opening the retooled facility two years later in November 2021.
