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The GM Ultium battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, has voted to unionize. This is the 2nd GM battery plant to unionize – but this one is different because it’s in Tennessee, where unions are less popular.

Unions have been seeing a lot of strength in the US lately, with pro-union sentiment at historic highs in the US.

The UAW has been both contributing to and riding this wave of union support in pushing for unionization across the US auto industry, particularly in the realm of electric vehicles and battery plants.

Its first big win was when GM’s first Ultium plant voted overwhelmingly to join UAW in 2022. Then, during UAW strike negotiations in 2023, Ultium workers won their right to be placed under the union master agreement, meaning better pay and protections for battery workers.

UAW’s strike success led to pay raises across the industry, even for nonunion workers, showing how union wins can buoy pay across larger populations.

This string of wins seems to have earned the attention of the GM Ultium battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, as a majority of the 1,000 workers there signed union cards indicating that they want to join UAW, as announced today by the union. UAW points out that GM and LG (who are partners in the Ultium Cells venture) did not interfere with the union vote and has agreed to recognize the union.

The Spring Hill location is the second Ultium plant to start production, which it did earlier this year. It follows Lordstown, which started production and unionized in 2022. Today’s announcement means that both of GM’s currently-operating plants have voted to unionize.

Another plant in Lansing, Michigan is just finishing construction and should start producing cells by the end of this year. Workers at this plant have not yet voted either way on whether to join UAW.

Spring Hill’s decision is notable due to its location in the US South, which is historically more union-hostile than the North. This is part of the reason that many automotive companies have opened factories there – because of the lack of unionization, labor protections and pay scales are lower.

However, we have seen some signs of this changing. In April of this year, the VW plant in Chattanooga, TN voted to unionize. This plant had been VW’s only factory worldwide not to have a collective bargaining agreement in place, and the vote marked the first time a foreign automaker’s plant voted to unionize in the US.

We also saw a newly-unionized Blue Bird school bus factory in Georgia, where electric school buses will be made.

Momentum faltered when a Mercedes EV plant in Alabama declined to join UAW after Mercedes brought in anti-union firms to sway the vote. And six Southern governors – including Kay Ivey of Alabama, who signed an anti-union law during the Mercedes voting period – made a joint statement to encourage workers against seeking greater labor protections that union membership would bring them.

But now, momentum may be back in the hands of UAW, after this Spring Hill vote succeeded today. And it could be a big deal, given the developing “battery belt” in the US South, where many companies have decided to build battery plants, with hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs on the docket. If other factories see the success at GM, they might start getting their own ideas and unionization could spread through the industry.


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Bollinger Motors circles the drain as court cases, debts pull it down

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Bollinger Motors circles the drain as court cases, debts pull it down

A federal court judge in Michigan has placed the once-promising electric truck brand Bollinger Motors’ assets into receivership following claims that the company’s owners still owe its founder, Robert Bollinger, more than $10 million.

Bollinger Motors first came to fame in the “draw a truck, get a billion dollars” stage of the EV revolution that saw Nikola rise to a higher market cap than Ford for a brief time. Robert Bollinger wasn’t able to capitalize quickly enough to get his trucks into production, though – and a late stage pivot to sell the brand to Mullen Automotive and launch a medium-duty commercial truck doesn’t appear to have been enough to save it.

Now, Automotive News is reporting on some of the more convoluted details of the Mullen purchase deal, with Robert (for ease of distinguishing the man from the brand) claiming that Mullen Automotive owes him more than $10 million for a loan he made to the company in 2024.

Just how Robert ended up giving Mullen Automotive $10 million to take his eponymous truck brand off his hands is probably one of those capitalistic mysteries that I’ll never understand, but Mullen’s response was perfectly clear: they didn’t even bother to show up to court.

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Bollinger claims that at least two suppliers are also suing Mullen for unpaid debts. As such, the Honorable Terrence G. Berg has put the Bollinger brand into receivership, and its assets have been frozen in preparation for everything being liquidated. Worse, for Bollinger, the official court filings reveal a company that is really very much doing not awesome:

The testimony and evidence—which Defendant’s counsel conceded accurately reflected Defendant’s finances—showed that Defendant is in crisis. For months Defendant has owed more than twenty million dollars to suppliers, contractors, service providers, and owners of physical space. These debts are owed to parties who are critical for Defendant’s functioning. CEO Bryan Chambers testified that Defendant was locked out of its production facilities on May 5, 2025, and that the owner of the production facilities was seeking to permanently evict Defendant. The Court heard that Defendant had been prevented from accessing its critical manufacturing accounting system for a short time at the end of April 2025, before making a partial payment to restart services.

US DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

I’m not sure if you caught all that, but Bollinger’s CEO has been locked out the company’s facilities and getting evicted, the company is more than $20 million in debt, and that debt is owed to people Bollinger absolutely needs in order to keep going.

You can read the full court decision, which I’ve embedded here, below. Once you’ve taken it all in, feel free to rush into the comments to say you told me so, since I really thought hoped the Bollinger B1 had a shot. Silly me.

Bollinger v. Bollinger case

SOURCES: Automotive News, Justia, Yahoo!.

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This vast 1.3 GW Indiana solar farm will power 200,000 homes

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This vast 1.3 GW Indiana solar farm will power 200,000 homes

Mammoth Solar, a 1.3 gigawatt (GW) solar farm in northern Indiana, is now powering into its biggest construction phase yet, cementing its place as one of the largest solar projects in the US.

The solar farm is set to increase Indiana’s solar capacity by more than 20% once it’s fully online. And with construction ramping up this month, developer Doral Renewables has given Bechtel Full Notice to Proceed on the design, engineering, and construction of three major phases of the project: Mammoth South, Mammoth Central I, and Mammoth Central II. Together, these phases will generate 900 MW of clean energy.

That’s enough electricity to power around 200,000 homes with clean energy, helping Indiana shift away from fossil fuels while boosting the local economy.

Construction is already underway, and over the next two years, Bechtel will install around 2 million solar panels, with about half of them made in the US. The company is also handling all engineering, procurement, and construction work, using its digital project management tools and autonomous tech to keep everything on track.

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At the peak of the buildout, Mammoth Solar is expected to create over 1,200 jobs, with at least 15% of those set aside for apprenticeships.

Bechtel says its success will hinge on strong collaboration with local trades and vendors. The company is working closely with craft professionals and is committed to being a reliable community partner throughout construction.

Once the solar farm is complete in 2027, Doral Renewables plans to roll out agrivoltaics across the site. That means livestock grazing and crop cultivation will happen right alongside energy production, giving farmers in the area a way to keep working their land while supporting clean energy development.

Read more: Solar adds more new capacity to the US grid in 2024 than any energy source in 20 years


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BYD’s funky new kei car spotted testing: Here’s our first look at the mini EV

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BYD's funky new kei car spotted testing: Here's our first look at the mini EV

BYD is about to launch an even smaller EV, but this one’s a little different. It’s BYD’s first kei car. You know, those tiny vehicles that dominate Japan’s city streets? BYD’s mini EV was just spotted out in public, giving us our first real look at the upcoming kei car.

BYD’s first mini EV was spotted in public

Last week, rumors surfaced that BYD was developing its first kei car, which would compete with top-selling models from Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and other Japanese brands.

Kei cars, or “K-Car,” as they are sometimes called, are a class of ultra-compact vehicles that cannot be longer than 3.4 meters (134″). To put that into perspective, BYD’s smallest EV currently, the Seagull (called the Dolphin Mini overseas), is 3,780 mm (148.8″) long.

The mini vehicles are ideal in Japan because they are so small, making it easy to get around tight city streets. They are also more affordable and efficient than larger vehicles.

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BYD’s mini EV was spotted for the first time during a road test this week by IT Home (via CarNewsChina), revealing a familiar look. It has that boxy, compact look of a typical kei car with sliding side doors.

BYD's-mini-EV-spotted
BYD’s kei car, or mini EV, in camouflage (Source: Sina/ IT Home)

According to reports, BYD is developing a new platform for the model. It will reportedly include a 20 kWh battery, good for 180 km (112 miles) WLTC range. By using its in-house Blade LFP batteries, BYD is expected to have a cost advantage.

BYD’s upcoming mini EV is expected to start at around 2.5 million yen, or about $18,000. That’s about the same as the Nissan Sakura (2.59 million yen), Japan’s best-selling EV last year.

Last year, around 1.55 million kei cars were sold in Japan, accounting for roughly 40% of new vehicle sales. Honda’s N-Box was the top-selling kei car (EV or gas) for the third straight year.

As Nikkei reported, some are already calling BYD’s electric kei car “a huge threat.” A Suzuki dealer said, “Young people do not have a negative view of BYD. It would be a huge threat if the company launches cheap models in Japan.”

Nissan-affordable-EVs
Nissan Sakura mini EV (Source: Nissan)

BYD already sells several electric cars in Japan, including the Atto 3 SUV, Dolphin, and Seal. Last month, the company launched the new Sealion 7 midsize electric SUV, starting at 4.95 million yen ($34,500).

Although Japan isn’t really an EV hot spot, with sales falling 33% in 2024 to just under 60,000 units, BYD sees an opportunity.

BYD-mini-EV
BYD Dolphin Mini (Seagull) testing in Brazil (Source: BYD)

By making virtually every car component in-house, including batteries, BYD can offer EVs at such low prices while still making a profit. BYD’s cheapest and best-selling electric car, the Seagull, starts at under $10,000 (69,800 yuan) in China.

With new smart driving and charging tech rolling out, BYD’s electric cars are getting smarter and even more efficient.

Can BYD’s mini EV compete with Japanese brands? At the right price, it may have a chance. Check back soon for more on the upcoming kei car. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest.

Source: Sina, CarNewsChina

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