Ultium Cells, the joint venture formed by General Motors and South Korea's LG Energy Solution, said a limited number of employees will return to its Warren, Ohio, battery manufacturing site the week of May 25. The company described the work as related to resuming operations later this year, but it did not give a firm schedule for restarting full production.
The plant was idled in January for an anticipated six-month pause after automakers reduced EV manufacturing to reflect softer consumer demand. That initial pause left about 850 workers out of work since January, after Ultium disclosed the halt earlier this year.
Ultium notified that roughly 1,330 employees had been employed at the Ohio facility as of October, when it also announced a production suspension at a second Ultium plant in Tennessee. Of the Ohio workforce, about 480 were laid off indefinitely while the remainder - approximately 850 employees - have been out of work since the January suspension.
In its statement, Ultium said a "small number" of staff would return the week of May 25 for work connected to preparing for a restart later in the year, and that any decision to resume production would depend on market demand for electric vehicles. A company spokesperson declined to confirm a broader timeline for resuming full operations at the Warren plant.
Automakers, including General Motors, scaled back some EV output after a $7,500 federal tax credit expired in late September. While manufacturers continue to produce and sell electric vehicles, many have trimmed factory output to better align with current U.S. consumer demand for electrics.
Separately, Ultium and its partners have already taken different measures at other sites: at the Tennessee plant, the companies recalled hundreds of workers to produce battery cells destined for energy storage systems rather than for electric vehicles.
Local reporting on Friday indicated company officials remain hopeful that demand will strengthen by the third quarter, but the timing of a full workforce recall in Ohio remains uncertain and tied to market conditions.