General Motors will invest $6.6 billion through 2024 in two Michigan electric vehicle manufacturing efforts backed by incentives from the state government, the company announced Tuesday. The projects include a new battery factory being built in Lansing in partnership with LG Energy Solution and the retooling of its existing Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion to manufacture electric Chevrolet and GMC trucks. “Today we are taking the next step in our continuous work to establish GM’s EV leadership by making investments in our vertically integrated battery production in the U.S., and our North American EV production capacity,” GM CEO Mary Barra said. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the new jobs would create $35 billion in new personal income over the next 20 years. The state government is providing a total of $824 billion worth of incentives in the form of a $600 million direct grant and additional tax relief. The money is coming from a $1 billion fund set up in December to make the state more attractive to new manufacturing investments in the wake of Ford’s decision last fall to spend $11.4 billion on new electric vehicle facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee. Barra said the projects will create 4,000 new jobs and help bring GM’s North American electric vehicle manufacturing capacity to one million units annually by 2025, including 600,000 trucks. The Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV subcompact electric vehicles will continue at Orion Assembly during the transition, although production of both is suspended while GM replaces the batteries on previously sold units, which were recalled due to a defect that could lead to fires. GM recently began production of the GMC Hummer EV electric pickup at its Factory Zero facility in Detroit-Hamtramck, which will also produce the Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra pickups starting next year.
