Analysis-GM's 2025 EV output could be crimped by battery bottleneck

FILE PHOTO: The new GM logo is seen on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., March 16, 2021. Picture taken March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/

(Reuters) - General Motors has said it will have the capacity to build 1 million electric vehicles in North America by 2025, but a slow ramp-up of its three U.S. battery plants could limit actual EV production to less than 600,000 at mid-decade, according to a forecast and analysis prepared for Reuters.

Building more than half a million EVs in North America in 2025 “will be difficult, based on (GM’s) planned battery production” at plants in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan, according to Sam Fiorani, head of global vehicle forecasting at Pennsylvania-based AutoForecast Solutions (AFS), a widely consulted industry research and analytics firm.