The federal government is divvying up some $1.7 billion to support increased electric vehicle production around the country.
More than $1 billion of that will go to General Motors and Stellantis.
The money will be used for projects at 11 plants in eight states, including $500 million for GM’s Lansing (Mich.) Grand River Assembly plant, $334.8 million for the Belvidere Assembly plant in Illinois that Stellantis closed last year and $250 million for Stellantis to make electric drive modules at a transmission plant in Indiana, Automotive News reported.
The projects would create more than 2,900 jobs and retain 15,000 workers, the U.S. Department of Energy said, according to the report.
“This factory will stay open,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a Democratic former Michigan governor who led the state during the financial crisis and 2009 bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, said July 11 during an event at GM’s Lansing plant.
The grants cover facilities in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. Other recipients include an American Autoparts Inc. chassis assembly operation in Ohio and Volvo Group plants in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland that build medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Volvo Group is not affiliated with Volvo Cars, according to the Automotive News report.
The largest single grant is going to GM’s Lansing Grand River plant. It will be among several GM plants that can build EVs and components, including Factory Zero in Detroit, Orion Assembly in Michigan, Spring Hill Manufacturing in Tennessee, Fairfax Assembly in Kansas and Toledo Propulsion Systems in Ohio.
GM committed to investing $1.25 billion at the Lansing plant on future EV production last fall as part of the automaker’s new contract with the UAW.
Granholm said GM will invest $900 million in the Lansing plant as part of the conversion to EVs. A GM spokesperson said the figure was proposed as part of the grant application process, but that the automaker has not yet finalized its investment in the plant.
Stellantis shuttered its Belvidere plant, which built the Jeep Cherokee, in February 2023. In its new agreement with the UAW, the automaker agreed to reopen the plant for midsize pickup production starting in 2027, along with a nearby $100 million Mopar parts hub and a $3.2 billion joint-venture battery plant.
“Stellantis is pleased to have been selected by the DOE to proceed to the next phase” of the grant process, a spokesperson said in a statement. “This is an important step in continuing to expand our electrified vehicle offerings as a key component of our Dare Forward 2030 strategy.”
UAW Vice President Mike Booth, who leads the union’s GM department, told Automotive News that the grant is “a no-brainer” that will aid the transition to EVs as consumers are ready for them.
The investment “helps [UAW] Local 652, as well as the members, their families and this whole community,” Booth said.
In a statement, Biden said the new grant funding will help automakers and suppliers convert existing plants and retain unionized manufacturing jobs in the EV transition.
“Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” Biden said.
