Cami battery plant to stay shut as GM yields to political pressure: Union

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Cami’s new on-site battery plant will remain shut down when the vehicle manufacturer resumes production in November, as political pressure has forced GM to shift battery production to the U.S., said the head of the union representing workers.

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In 2024, Cami built a 37,000-square-metre (400,000 sq. ft.) plant in Ingersoll to assemble its own batteries for the BrightDrop EV cargo van that it makes. BrightDrop production is shut down but when it resumes in November, it will get batteries from a U.S. supplier, leaving the on-site battery plant idle, said Mike Van Boekel, chairperson of Unifor Local 88 that represents the plant’s unionized workers.

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“Once our inventory runs out, batteries will come from the U.S. This is terrible news,” said Van Boekel.

“They don’t want to piss off (U.S. President Donald) Trump so they are buying from the U.S. This is political,” he added.

General Motors Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

Production levels at Cami remain low, and returning the battery plant to operation is not cost-effective, said Van Boekel.

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“Our volumes are low and that hurts, but they are also trying to keep Trump happy,” he said.

The battery assembly plant employed more than 200 workers after Cami retooled to assemble the EV cargo van about three years ago.

Sam Fiorani, auto industry analyst at AutoForecast Solutions, agreed that “keeping battery production in the U.S. will help GM with its trade issues,” he said.

GM will likely ship batteries from its battery plant in Warren, Ohio, to supply Cami, he said.

“But there is also low volume for the BrightDrop and that makes it difficult to reach a profitable level of production for batteries.”

Recently, Cami announced it is extending a shut-down and laying off 600 workers. The workforce will shrink to 400 when production resumes in November as the two BrightDrop vans it assembles have not sold well.

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“It is tough, it is very tough. We have 600 families laid off,” said Van Boekel.

GM Canada invested about $1 billion to retool the plant for the electric van. Cami was also in line to assemble a Hyundai EV cargo van but the rise in tariffs between the U.S. and Canada led to suspension of that plan.

“We are still set up for a smaller van. We are not out of the conversation,” for Hyundai, said Van Boekel.

There was some good news this summer. In July, BrightDrop sales totaled 1,200 and August sales may be even higher, said Van Boekel. In 2024, total BrightDrop sales in Canada and the U.S. were about 2,000 vehicles.

The high cost of the BrightDrop is seen as a factor in the low sales as it sells for US$79,400 compared to the Ford E-Transit, which sells for US$51,000.

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 The van is larger and offers a greater EV range, and GM has been offering steep discounts to close the gap, according to the automotive news site driving.ca.

“Every month it is getting better. I feel there is a good market out there, but it will take more time than we planned for,” Van Boekel said about future of the Cami plant.

Fiorani said the BrightDrop is an excellent product. But he added, “In the time it has been on the market, it should have cracked a larger market share. It is expensive, it is large and its customers are very price conscious because they do not make money on shipping.”

Cami is one of the more modern plants in GM’s inventory but the automaker will likely wait until the “dust settles” on the renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement before there is certainty on its future, he said.

“We expect products will be built there, but it won’t be done until the trade agreement is signed,” he said.

 Another hopeful sign is that Amazon, the online retailer and delivery giant, is now testing BrightDrop vehicles as it is looking to go electric by the end of the decade. It wants to add about 100,000 cargo vans, a recent report from Reuters news service stated.

 “That would keep our plant busy,” said Van Boekel if they get even a portion of that order. “They would be our largest customer.” 

ndebono@postmedia.com

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