General Motors Co. is committing nearly $7 billion — the single largest investment in its history — toward building more electric trucks and EV batteries in Michigan.
The plans revealed Jan. 25 include a battery-cell plant and the conversion of GM's Chevrolet Bolt assembly plant to build battery-powered versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups. The investment eventually would let GM build up to 600,000 full-size electric pickups in the U.S. annually.
"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 in a statement. "Our plan creates the broadest EV portfolio of any automaker and further solidifies our path toward U.S. EV leadership by mid-decade."
The new battery plant in Lansing, Mich., and conversion of the Orion Township assembly plant marks the next step in GM's commitment to electrification as rival Ford Motor Co. begins construction of two EV campuses in Kentucky and Tennessee.
GM has promised to spend $35 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle development, launch 30 EVs globally and have more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America, all through 2025. By 2030, GM aims to convert half of its North American assembly capacity to EV production.
GM and its battery partner, LG Energy Solution, also won tax incentives exceeding $824 million to add production capacity and battery cell manufacturing in Michigan. Other states were in the running, GM President Mark Reuss told reporters, but Michigan — the home of GM's headquarters, global technical center and first electric truck plant — was "highly desirable," he said.
"If you look at where we put other cell plants, like Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tenn., of course we are looking at other states where we have footprints," he said. "Making efficient and agile manufacturing footprint decisions is only good business, but also we have a vested interest in Michigan and Detroit.
"So we're going to look here, and we're going to really invest our time to make sure that that we have those collaborations and partnerships in place."
GM plans to spend $4 billion on Orion Assembly, which today builds the Bolt EV hatchback and larger Bolt EUV crossover powered by GM's previous-generation batteries. It will become GM's third U.S. plant assembling Ultium-powered EVs, joining Factory Zero in Detroit and Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee. GM also is converting CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario, and Ramos Arizpe Assembly in Mexico for Ultium-based EV production.