EV Battery Plant Layoffs: 850 Ohio Workers Miss June Return as Ultium Delays Again

Roughly 850 unionized battery workers at the Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown (Warren), Ohio, will not return to work in June as they were promised in January — the joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution confirmed May 29 that the return date has been pushed to August after a fresh analysis of the electric vehicle market. The delay is the second broken timeline for UAW Local 1112 members who have been on temporary layoff since January 5, the latest tangible consequence of the elimination of the federal $7,500 EV tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025.

"Ultium Cells Ohio employees who have been on temporary layoff status are now expected to return in August for GM EV cell production," plant spokeswoman Katie Burdette said in an emailed statement. An internal notice reviewed by Reuters cited "a detailed analysis of the electric vehicle market" during the first several months of 2026 as the basis for the revised date.

The plant's Trumbull County workforce has been largely idle for five months. Roughly 650 workers remain on the job, with production running at about 50% of its 2024 peak, Tom Gallagher, vice president of operations at Ultium, said during a May 8 plant visit by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). Battery cell production at the 2.8-million-square-foot Lordstown facility — which produced its 100 millionth battery cell in December 2024 — paused entirely in January.

EV Tax Credit Eliminated Jobs: How Washington's Policy Reversal Reached Lordstown

The Lordstown stoppage traces directly to Washington. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, ended the $7,500 new-vehicle tax credit effective October 1, 2025 — about eight years ahead of its scheduled 2032 expiration. The credit's elimination triggered a sharp pullback in EV purchases, draining demand at automakers that had built battery supply chains around the federal incentive.

GM had already read the trend before the bill passed. In an October 2025 letter to shareholders, CEO Mary Barra said the company was "assessing our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint," citing both the relaxed fuel-efficiency regulatory environment under the Trump administration and the coming end of the EV credit. By the end of October, GM filed a WARN notice with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, announcing the layoff of 1,334 hourly workers at Lordstown effective January 5 — 850 on temporary status, the remainder on indefinite layoff. Last fall, Ultium also permanently cut 480 positions at the plant.

On January 9, GM disclosed a $6 billion writedown, roughly $4.2 billion of it coming from canceled supplier contracts and commercial settlements with partners who had planned for far greater EV output. Ford took an even larger hit: a $19.5 billion charge in December 2025 as it dissolved its BlueOval SK joint venture and shuttered its Kentucky battery plant, laying off all 1,600 workers there.

Khanna, who serves as ranking member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China, called the credit's elimination "a total policy failure" following his May 8 tour of the Lordstown plant. "EV tax credits were taken away, and it's literally taking jobs away from people here in Warren," he told reporters. Khanna — who noted that Trump won Ohio and Trumbull County in the last three presidential elections — said he would push colleagues in Congress for an emergency extension of EV credits, particularly given recent rises in gas prices.

Electric Vehicle Demand Slowdown 2026: Sales Fell 27% in First Quarter

The Lordstown delay reflects conditions across the broader US EV market, not just one plant's scheduling problem. EV sales in the US fell 27% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, landing at 216,399 units — also down 7.8% from the prior quarter, according to Cox Automotive's Kelley Blue Book. EVs accounted for 5.8% of total new-vehicle sales in Q1, well below the peak of about 12% in mid-2025, according to Gallagher. "With federal incentives gone, the first quarter reflected a necessary reset," said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of insights at Cox Automotive. "Sales slowed and market share shifted."

The broad EV pullback has reshuffled the battery manufacturing map. SK Battery America cut 958 workers — about 37% of its Georgia plant workforce — in March 2026. Ford's dissolution of BlueOval SK eliminated all 1,600 Kentucky jobs in December 2025. Automakers across the industry have responded by leaning on hybrids, which generate near-term cash flow, while they recalibrate longer-term EV strategies toward lower-cost platforms.

GM-LG Energy Solution Battery Pivot: Tennessee Recalled While Ohio Waits

The contrasting fates of Ultium's two plants illustrate the split emerging in American battery manufacturing. While Ohio workers remain on temporary layoff waiting for the EV market to recover, the Tennessee plant at Spring Hill took a different path. In March 2026, GM and LG announced a $70 million retooling of the Spring Hill facility to produce lithium-iron phosphate batteries for stationary energy storage systems rather than EV cells — and recalled all 700 of its laid-off workers to start the new production line in the second quarter.

Plant officials confirmed to local media that Lordstown has no plans to follow the same chemistry pivot. The Ohio plant is consolidating EV battery manufacturing, while energy storage work stays with LG's separate facilities.

Battery Energy Storage Grid: LG Secures $1.6 Billion Deal as EV Revenue Dries Up

The Tennessee turnaround is part of a broader diversification strategy LG Energy Solution's US storage arm executed with near-simultaneous timing. On May 27, 2026 — two days before the Ohio delay announcement — LG Energy Solution Vertech announced a supply agreement with Michigan utility DTE Energy to deliver 6 gigawatt-hours of battery storage systems across eight Michigan grid projects over two years. DTE CEO Joi Harris said the $1.6 billion deal is expected to generate $2.3 billion in economic impact for the state.

One of those eight projects supports an Oracle data center in Saline Township; DTE said the storage capacity funded by that contract alone is sufficient to meet the utility's share of Michigan's 2030 clean energy standard for battery storage. LG Energy Solution confirmed the batteries will be manufactured in Michigan and at other US and Canadian facilities.

Battery producers that can supply both EV manufacturers and the electricity grid are better positioned to weather the current EV contraction. The energy storage market's growth — driven by AI data center power demand and renewable integration — has become a structural counterweight to EV overcapacity across the North American battery chain.

What Does This Mean for the 850 Workers Still Waiting?

UAW Local 1112 members on temporary layoff retain recall and transfer rights under their labor agreement and remain eligible for Supplemental Unemployment Benefits alongside state unemployment compensation. The WARN notice filed in October 2025 classified their layoffs as temporary, which means the company retains an obligation to recall them — but the twice-delayed timeline has left their return contingent on a market recovery that no one has independently confirmed is imminent.

Khanna argued that the plant and its workers represent a national asset. "In other areas you have CATL, which is a Chinese company just licensing the technology to the big three," he said after the May 8 visit. "Here, GM gets the innovation and that lowers the battery cost. It makes the battery better, and it's American technology." His prescription: restore the EV credit, expand charging infrastructure, and block Chinese battery makers from accessing US production incentives.

Ultium Cells has not committed to a specific date within August or confirmed what production volume the recalled workers will support. The company's only public statement is that workers "are now expected to return in August for GM EV cell production."

Frequently Asked Questions

Why were Ultium Cells Ohio workers laid off in 2026?

Battery cell production at the Lordstown, Ohio plant paused in January 2026 after the elimination of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act caused US EV sales to drop sharply. GM and LG Energy Solution, the plant's joint-venture owners, cited "slower near-term EV adoption" in their WARN notice. About 1,334 hourly workers were affected, with 850 placed on temporary layoff and the remainder indefinitely.

Which EV battery plants have had layoffs in 2026?

Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio (1,334 workers, January 2026) and Spring Hill, Tennessee (700 workers, January 2026 — since recalled) are among the most prominent. SK Battery America cut 958 workers at its Commerce, Georgia plant in March 2026. Ford dissolved its BlueOval SK joint venture and laid off all 1,600 Kentucky plant workers in December 2025. The layoffs reflect a broad realignment of battery manufacturing capacity following the end of federal EV incentives.

Will Ultium Cells Ohio workers get their jobs back?

Ultium Cells confirmed on May 29, 2026 that workers on temporary layoff are now expected to return in August, though no specific date within the month was given. A previous June return date was not met. Workers retain recall rights under their UAW Local 1112 contract and remain eligible for supplemental unemployment benefits in the interim.

Did eliminating the EV tax credit cause battery plant layoffs?

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ended the $7,500 new-vehicle EV tax credit effective October 1, 2025. GM CEO Mary Barra cited the credit's expiration as a direct factor in the company's decision to cut EV production capacity. Rep. Ro Khanna called the elimination "a total policy failure" after visiting the Lordstown plant in May 2026. Cox Automotive recorded a 27% year-over-year drop in US EV sales in the first quarter of 2026.