Mary Barra, the boss of General Motors, during the announcement of a $7 billion investment in Michigan on January 25, 2022 in Lansing (AFP / JEFF KOWALSKY)
US automaker General Motors plans to spend $6.6 billion in Michigan as part of its broad shift to electric vehicles, with the conversion of a production line and the construction of a new battery factory, as well only 500 million for the modernization of two sites.
This represents the biggest investment on specific projects ever announced by the group, said Tuesday in a press release GM, which plans to invest a total of 35 billion dollars by 2025 for electric and autonomous vehicles.
This initiative, which should create 4,000 jobs in this state in the north of the United States, was welcomed by the American president.
This is the “latest sign that my economic strategy is helping to stimulate a historic comeback for American industry,” said Joe Biden in a press release, stressing that he had encouraged the development of electric vehicles.
In particular, he signed an executive order providing that by 2030, half of the cars sold in the United States will be emission-free – electric, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen. Its major infrastructure plan, ratified in November, also provides funding for the construction of electric charging stations.
In Michigan, GM plans to spend $4 billion converting a production line at the Orion plant near Detroit to producing electric pickups, starting with the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra from 2024. The group already produces electric Chevrolet Bolts on the site.
The manufacturer also plans to invest, with the South Korean group LG Energy Solution, 2.6 billion dollars for the construction of a third electric battery factory, in Lansing, in addition to those already planned in Ohio and Tennessee.
The objective is to be able to build more than one million electric vehicles in North America by the end of 2025 and to convert 50% of its manufacturing capacity in the area by 2030.
GM also plans to spend $510 million to improve the production of internal combustion engine vehicles at two sites in Lansing.
Electric vehicle sales jumped 89% in the United States in 2021, according to Cox Automotive. But they still only accounted for 3% of vehicle sales in the country.
GM, which aims to offer 30 models of electric vehicles by 2025, sold less than 25,000 last year.
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