Ultium Cells sidelines 1,330 workers at its $2.3 billion Lordstown battery plant

In May, three of the plant's workers sat in a union hall instead of working their shift ^[4]. They had not worked since the start of the year, according to Reuters reporting carried in Ukrainian by mezha.net ^[4][20]. Steve Bayer said in that report that the plant matters to a lot of people, and he called the situation devastating ^[6]. The remarks here are translated back into English from mezha.net's text ^[20].

The plant was built from scratch because the work required it. Making EVs meant new plants and new supply chains, and refitting old factories was not enough ^[7]. James Rubenstein, professor emeritus of geography at Miami University in Ohio, gave the example that converting an engine plant to make batteries was impractical ^[8]. I think the constraint runs both ways. A site laid out for cells has no older product to move people onto when orders fall. At Lordstown that came to about 1,330 people, counting the indefinite idling and the months-long notices together ^[1].

The Center for Automotive Research says US auto manufacturing investment in 2019-2024 was more than double the previous six years, and that EV-related projects accounted for all of the increase ^[18]. On Atlas Public Policy's figures, almost $20 billion of EV and battery projects were cancelled last year ^[12]. New announcements came to about $6.5 billion, 29% of the year before ^[13]. That implies roughly $22 billion of new commitments in the prior year ^[3]. Last year's figure is about 12% of the $55 billion promised at the 2023 peak ^[4]. At Lordstown's $2.3 billion cost, last year's cancellations equal about eight and a half plants ^[5][5].

Executives have named the lost credit as one reason for dropping large investments ^[11]. The report also says the investment wave was weakening before the policy turn. Americans bought EVs more slowly than automakers expected, and some were put off by prices and worries about range ^[10]. Rubenstein was blunt about the policy side. He said electrification is probably the biggest upheaval of all those people have lived through, and that Trump's rollbacks are pushing the process back ^[9].

Atlas says its own job total could be higher ^[15]. Some announcements never included job projections. The count also skips projects that were scaled back without being cancelled, plus investments where the EV share cannot be split out ^[15]. Lordstown was idled indefinitely, and the report does not describe it as cancelled ^[2]. If its 1,330 sidelined workers sit outside the 27,000 figure, as that method suggests, this one site would add about 5% to it ^[6].

The report documents one operating plant that has been idled ^[1]. Atlas's larger numbers are cancelled projects, and the report does not say how many of those had been built ^[12].