General Motors has announced that its EV Ultium battery plant under construction in Lordstown will operate seven days a week when production gets underway later this year.

GM CEO and president Mary Barra told reporters during a Tuesday conference call that the plant will launch this year initially with 200 jobs. GM's website says the plant will go online in the middle of 2022.

In addition to the Lordstown plant, joint Ventures with LG Chem also calls for another battery plant that will go online next year in Springhill, Tennessee, as well as a third plant planned for 2024 in Lansing, Michigan.

In a letter to shareholders, Barra called customer reaction the GMC Hummer EV Pickup "overwhelming". Barra said there have been more than 110,000 reservations for GM's planned Chevrolet Silverado EV.

The letter said that large fleet customers such as FedEx Express and Walmart are adopting the BrightDrop electric vehicles. Barra said there are more than 25,000 reservations for BrightDrop cargo vans.

According to Barra's letter, customer interest in the forthcoming Cadillac Lyriq SUV, GM will forgo a new round of reservations and begin taking orders as soon as the vehicle debuts in March.

Barra said that the availability of battery cells will not restrain GM’s plans for long-term growth.

Asked about where GM is currently getting Ultium cells for the Hummer EV and other vehicles, Barra said the company is doubling down and working faster.

“I'm sharing today that we will announce the location of our fourth US cell plant in the first half of this year,” said Barra during Tuesday's conference call. “Together, these plants will support GM's EV volume growth and supply our customers in the rail, trucking, aerospace, and marine industries.”

Barra said GM plans to have more than 400,000 electric vehicles in the North American Market by next year.

When GM announced plans for the nearly three-million square-foot Lordstown Ultium plant in 2020, the company said the effort would eventually create more than 1,100 jobs in the area.