America’s enthusiasm for electric cars is extraordinary. The proof, the list of orders for Hummer EV has penetrated 77,000 people. In fact, General Motors (GM) is only able to produce 12 units of Hummer EV a day. That is, there are only 360 units a month and 4,320 units a year. This means that it took the last person on the waiting list 17 years to get the car he ordered.
According to The Wall Street Journal, there are many reasons why electric car production at GM’s Detroit plant has been so slow. The reasons are various, ranging from EV technology which is still relatively new, to raw material constraints.
In fact, production of the Hummer EV actually started 6 months ago. GM unveiled the GMC Hummer EV to the public in October 2020. GM’s first electric pickup truck is intended to compete with Ford, Tesla and Rivian in America’s fast-growing electric truck market.
A GM spokesman said production of EV vehicles was slower because it used an entirely new platform. So, it still needs a lot of adjustments. GM has also done a lot of things to continue to increase the number of production. One of them, by using its own battery which is manufactured in Ohio.
Research institute JD Power says that more and more Americans are interested in buying electric cars. The average amount of money used to buy an electric car reached USD 54,000, an increase of 22 percent compared to May 2021.
The soaring cost of raw materials needed for electric cars such as nickel, lithium and cobalt, has made car manufacturers faced with higher production costs. The war in Ukraine is also a factor as Russia is a major exporter of some metals for electric vehicles.
