Connect with us
general motors logo general motors logo

News

UAW contract with GM includes almost $2 billion in EV investments

Credit: GM

Published

on

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union recently came to tentative contract agreements with the Big Three automakers of Michigan, and General Motors’s (GM’s) investment plans in the agreement reportedly include around $2 billion dedicated to electric vehicle (EV) parts and production.

According to a summary of GM’s agreement with the UAW, GM is set to invest nearly $2 billion into EV production plans at facilities in Michigan, Kansas and New York (via Automotive News). The investments include $1.25 billion set for the Lansing, Michigan Grand River assembly plant and $391 million for its Fairfax, Kansas assembly facility, both of which will produce EVs. The automaker will also invest $300 million into its Tonawanda, New York site for electric drive production.

The financials come as part of more than $11 billion planned for manufacturing investments, many of which are also expected to be related to EV production. The UAW has also said that around $40 billion will be invested by the three automakers during the contract’s term, which ends in April 2028.

“We were able to wrench back so much of what these companies have stolen from us over the past few decades,” UAW President Shawn Fain said during a Facebook livestream on Saturday. “We won back our dignity as auto workers.”

Over the next few weeks, the UAW will hold votes for workers to ratify the tentative contracts, and all three of the automakers are including $5,000 ratification bonuses and wage increases of 25 percent over the four-and-a-half-year period.

Other parts of the contract include the restoration of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) that bring the wage increases to around 33 percent, or over $42 per hour, according to the union. It will also increase the pay of temporary workers with over 90 days on the job by between 51 percent and 115 percent upon being ratified. Temporary workers will be able to become full-time and gain seniority status after working at covered locations for nine months.

Additionally, the agreement brings GM’s Ultium Cells joint venture plants under the contract’s coverage, and employees of the battery arm are expected to get hourly pay raises of at least $6 to $8 when the contract is ratified, according to the UAW.

Although GM refused to comment on the matter, CEO Mary Barra said that the automaker is “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.”

Advertisement

Over the course of the strikes, Fain implied UAW hopes to reach other automakers not covered by the contracts in the coming years, including Tesla, Toyota, Honda and others. Last month, Fain called workers at the other automakers “UAW members of the future,” highlighting hopes to expand the union’s reach.

Following the union reaching tentative agreements with Ford, GM and Stellantis, Fain also said that the union was looking to bargain with the “Big Five or Six” in 2028 when contracts ended, suggesting that Tesla would likely be amongst the organization’s next targets.

The unionization of Tesla has seen workers divided, and past labor efforts at the automaker’s Fremont, California factory have failed. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also invited the UAW to hold a union vote at its Fremont factory last March, though the union never followed up.

UAW could try to unionize Tesla and other automakers next

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

Advertisement

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Elon Musk

Tesla Optimus’ pilot line will already have an incredible annual output

And this would just be the beginning. In the future, Musk mused that Optimus’ production could literally be out of this world.

Published

on

tesla-optimus-pilot-production-line
(Credit: Tesla)

During the 2025 Tesla Annual Shareholder Meeting, Elon Musk provided a teaser of the company’s targets for Optimus’s annual production. As per the CEO, Optimus’ pilot line will be capable of producing up to one million units annually. 

And this would just be the beginning. In the future, Musk mused that Optimus’ production could literally be out of this world.

Musk targets world’s fastest production ramp for Optimus robots

Tesla’s first Optimus line will be built in Fremont, California, and is projected to produce around one million robots per year. Other facilities like Gigafactory Texas could scale Optimus production to 10 million units annually. Musk even joked that a 100-million-unit line might one day be built “on Mars.” With Optimus, Musk stated that Tesla is looking to achieve a historic production ramp. 

“So we’re going to launch on the fastest production ramp of any product of any large complex manufactured product ever, starting with building a one million unit production line in Fremont. And that’s Line One. And then a 10-million-unit-per-year production line here (at Giga Texas). I don’t know where we’re going to put the one hundred million unit production line, maybe on Mars. But I think it’s going to literally get to one hundred million a year, maybe even a billion a year,” Musk said.

Optimus and sustainable abundance

Tesla’s Master Plan Part IV is all about sustainable abundance, and Musk highlighted that the humanoid robot will play a huge role in his vision for the future. He noted that Optimus’ mass production could redefine economic and social systems worldwide and open up premium services for everyone across the globe. 

Advertisement

“People often talk about eliminating poverty or giving everyone amazing medical care. There’s only one way to do that, and that’s with the Optimus robot,” Musk said. “With humanoid robots, you can actually give everyone amazing medical care. In terms of Optimus will be more precise. Optimus will ultimately be better than the best human surgeon with a level of precision that is beyond human… People always talked about eliminating poverty, but actually, Optimus will actually eliminate poverty,” Musk said.

Continue Reading

News

Ford considers drastic move with F-150 Lightning: ‘The demand is just not there’

Published

on

Credit: Ford Motor Company

Ford is considering a drastic move with its F-150 Lightning, which was the best-selling EV pickup on the market last quarter, beating out Tesla’s Cybertruck.

Ford has had a tumultuous entrance into its more expanded electric vehicle strategy over the past several years. At one point, the company was widely considered to be the most invested legacy automaker in the transition to electrification, but as the company has seen some real backtracking in terms of its sales and demand, it is cooling down its commitment.

At the end of Q3, it seemed to already be considering making some moves to cool off its EV ambitions, especially as the $7,500 EV tax credit was removed and it appeared that consumers would be less attracted to its vehicles without this sizeable discount.

Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Ford is considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning altogether, as one employee said “the demand is just not there.”

Despite it being the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S. last quarter, the sales simply do not match up with the pricing, and financially, it is not the time to try to dive further into a project that is not making a profit. Ford has been dwindling in its commitment to EVs over the past several quarters, and its profits are reflecting a slowing interest in its electric vehicles.

Simply put, Ford’s combustion engine lineup of pickups in the F-Series is, by far, the best-selling division of trucks globally. Ford brought an awesome product forth with the Lightning, a mirror of the gas-powered F-Series that had a variety of trim levels for whatever the truck would be used for by the consumer.

However, the demand and sales have caused Ford to take a loss on its electric truck: figures from early last year indicated it was losing between $100,000 and $132,000 per vehicle.

It is not an official announcement, as Ford has not publicly said anything regarding its plans for the Lightning at this time.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla schedules Roadster unveiling event, and you won’t believe when it is

Published

on

Tesla has tentatively scheduled its unveiling event for the Roadster’s next-generation iteration, and you will not believe the date the company picked for it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting that the company is aiming for an April 1 demo event.

Yes, April Fools’ Day.

Tesla originally aimed for its “most epic demo” to take place at the end of this year. However, the writing on the wall as 2025 winds down seemed to indicate the company was not quite ready to show off everything it plans to implement into the Roadster.

Its capabilities have been teased quite heavily throughout most of the year, but the biggest hints came last week when Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.

He said:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

The Roadster has been somewhat of a letdown, at least in its newest version, thus far. Tesla has routinely delayed the project, putting those who put lofty down payments on the car in a weird limbo, lost at what to do.

One notable pre-orderer cancelled his reservation last week and got in a spat with Musk about it.

Now that there is a definitive date for the Roadster unveiling, Musk and Co. should have a more definitive cutoff date for features and capabilities. Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen said earlier this year that when they showed Musk what they had done with the Roadster, the CEO encouraged them to do even more with it.

This delayed things further.

Musk also said he believes production would begin between 12 and 18 months after the unveiling, putting it out sometime in 2027.

Continue Reading

Trending