General Motors announced earlier this week their plan to invest $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites, creating 4,000 new jobs. With the company’s known goal to become the EV market leader in North America by 2025, the investment is of no surprise mostly geared towards EV and battery cell production.
According to a press release from GM, the investment includes construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing and the conversion of GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township for production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra as well as upgrades to two Lansing-area vehicle assembly plants.
Investment breakdown
- About $4 billion of the overall investment will be allocated to the conversion of the Orion Township assembly plant. The plant is expected to create more than 2,350 new jobs when it’s complete. Electric truck production is set to begin in 2024.
- GM and LG Energy Solution, via their Ultium Cells joint venture, will be investing $2.6 billion to build the new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing. It will be their third U.S. battery cell manufacturing plant. More than new 1,700 new jobs will be created when complete. Production is scheduled to begin in late 2024.
- $510 million will be invested in GM’s two Lansing-area vehicle assembly plants. These two plants include the Lansing Delta Township Assembly for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave and Lansing Grand River Assembly for plant upgrades.
GM projects to have more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America by the end of 2025 and to convert 50 percent of its North American assembly capacity to EV production by 2030.
The company also plans to build a new supply chain for batteries and EV components through strategic supplier agreements, including MP Materials, VAC, POSCO, GE Renewable Energy, Wolfspeed, and Controlled Thermal Resources.
