Yet another investment in electric vehicle manufacturing awarded to 8 states
The government is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to help restart or expand electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly sites owned by General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Volvo and other carmakers in eight states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia.
The Energy Department will issue grants totaling $1.7 billion to create or retain thousands of union jobs and support auto-based communities that have long driven the U.S. economy, the White House said Thursday.
The grants cover a broad range of the automotive supply chain, including parts for electric motorcycles and school buses, hybrid powertrains, heavy-duty commercial truck batteries and electric SUVs, the White House said.
General Motors said Thursday that the grants allow the company to expand on its commitment to offering customers a wide choice of vehicles after it said it’s already announced over $12 billion in investments in its North American EV manufacturing and supply chain since 2020.
“There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor. Even as competitors like China invest heavily in electric vehicles, the grants announced Thursday will help “ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive — and does it in the communities and with the workforce that have supported the auto industry for generations,” Granholm said.
The new grants complement $177 billion in private sector investment in EV and battery manufacturing since 2021, Granholm and other officials said.
Awards are subject to negotiations to ensure that commitments to workers and communities are met, officials said. The Energy Department also will complete environmental reviews before money is awarded later this year.
If awards are completed as planned, the selected projects would create more than 2,900 jobs and help ensure that about 15,000 union workers are retained across all 11 facilities, the White House said. The grants come after successful union organizing drives from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Fort Valley, Georgia, the White House said.
“Not only are we delivering new sources of clean transit — that iconic yellow school bus going green — but we’re also delivering to the American people options to save … thousands of dollars of fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetime of a vehicle” by going electric, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said.
Companies slated for awards include Blue Bird Body Co., which will receive nearly $80 million to convert a Georgia site previously used to make diesel-powered motor homes to produce electric school buses. Fiat Chrysler will receive nearly $335 million to convert an idled assembly plant in Illinois to assemble electric vehicles, and $250 million in a separate grant to convert an Indiana transmission plant to make electric drive modules for EVs.
General Motors, meanwhile, will receive $500 million to convert an assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan to produce EVs. GM production lines will further support and benefit from ongoing investments in a U.S. battery supply chain, accelerating the commercialization of advanced, affordable EVs, the White House said.
Harley-Davidson will receive $89 million to expand a facility in York, Pennsylvania to make electric motorcycles, and Volvo Group will receive $208 million to upgrade three manufacturing facilities that supply and build Mack and Volvo-branded heavy-duty trucks. The plants are located in Macungie, Pennsylvania; Dublin, Virginia; and Hagerstown, Maryland.
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