General Motors (GM) has revealed plans to invest in its powertrain plant in St. Catharines, Ontario to produce over 400,000 electric drive system units annually in the future. This investment will create around 500 new jobs in the assembly of electric drive systems. However, the exact amount of GM’s investment remains undisclosed, and the investment is contingent upon additional funding.
GM has indicated that the investment is subject to government subsidies, and negotiations with the Canadian government and the provincial government of Ontario are expected to conclude this year. Despite this, GM seems optimistic about the funding commitment and has already informed the employees in St. Catharines together with union representatives.
See also: GM to produce BrightDrop electric van in Canada
The drive systems produced at the St. Catharines plant will be used for GM’s electric vehicles based on the Ultium platform. The Ultium Drive, GM’s modular drive system, was introduced in 2020, and the drive units from St. Catharines can theoretically be installed in all Ultium models. The drive units will likely be used in various models announced so far or in production, from the GMC Hummer EV to the Cadillac Lyriq and the Chevrolet Equinox EV.
It is expected that some of the drive units will remain in Canada as the Ingersoll vehicle plant, which is also located in Ontario, is where the production of the electric delivery vehicles of the new BrightDrop brand is based. The BrightDrop Zevo 600 is also based on the Ultium platform.
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GM currently produces internal combustion engines and transmissions for various car and pickup models at the St. Catharines plant. “This is a time of historic change for our industry, and with this significant investment, St. Catharines will play a critical role in our electric vehicle future,” said Marissa West, president and CEO of GM Canada. “The St. Catharines team produces engines and transmissions for many of GM’s most popular vehicles, including full-size trucks, SUVs, and Corvettes, and we are very excited to announce our plans to supply critical drive units as well. This will support GM’s plans to build 1 million electric vehicles a year in North America by 2025.”
If the Canadian government’s funding commitment means that electric drive systems will be built in St. Catharines as planned, it would not be the first production base for the Ultium Drive units around the Great Lakes in the US-Canadian border region. In September 2022, GM announced that it would manufacture e-drives at its transmission plant in Toledo.
