General Motors Lansing Grand River Plant Conversion to Electric Vehicles
General Motors Receives $500M Federal Grant to Electrify Lansing Grand River Plant
by R.J. King
AB: Plant conversions from building gasoline and diesel driven vehicles to EVs. A timely move even if the newer models will require need modifications in later years.
General Motors Co. today announced it has received a $500 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to assist in preparing its Lansing Grand River plant for electrification.
For more than 20 years, GM Lansing Grand River has built luxury and performance vehicles like the Cadillac V-Series Blackwings. GM also is investing in the plant conversion.
The grant comes from a federal Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant program. The cost-shared grants support U.S. production of efficient hybrid, plug-in electric hybrid, plug-in electric, and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.
GM states today’s news builds on its bigger commitment to develop a resilient supply chain and offer customers a wide choice of vehicles. Overall, the automaker has announced more than $12 billion in investments at its North American EV manufacturing and supply chain development since 2020.
Lansing Grand River will join other GM plants on GM’s EV journey, including Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center and Orion Assembly in Michigan, Spring Hill Manufacturing in Tennessee, Fairfax Assembly in Kansas, and Toledo Propulsion Systems in Ohio. Plus, GM continues to invest in an array of component, stamping and propulsion plants.
In addition, GM, its suppliers, and joint venture partners have been making multi-billion-dollar investments. The investments in onshoring the production of EV raw materials, processed materials, and components, including battery cells. The supply chain initiatives are creating thousands of jobs in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Nevada, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, and California.
GM vice president of North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations. Camilo Ballesty . . .
“GM’s investment and this Department of Energy grant underscore our commitment to U.S. leadership in manufacturing and innovation. We are making sure we’re competitive at home and abroad. Our Lansing Grand River team produces incredible vehicles for our customers. We’re proud to bring our commitment to performance and quality into our EV future.”
Lansing Grand River, represented by UAW Local 652, will continue to produce the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 (including V-Series).
Huge amount granted along with interesting timing and location (swing state) of the announcement, wouldn’t you say?
But will it be enough to counter lost Arab American vote in Dearborn? And will it be enough to make GM EVs competitive against Chinese EVs, even with punitive tariffs?
Given there are no Chinese EVs sold in America right now I’m guessing making GM EVs competitive won’t be a problem, and I don’t see what the problem is making people’s lives better … if gets their vote well, maybe those who’ve neglected it so long should have paid closer attention. At least he’s offering something substantial
Back in the old days, we used to call this pork. And it will certainly make some people’s lives better–like GM CEO Barra, who takes home almost $30 million a year. Question is, were there any strings attached to force GM to stop paying such outlandish salaries?
I count six (6) straw-men in two (2) blog comments, all of which are negated by your declaration GM EVs can’t compete with Chinese EVs not sold here. All straw-men, all flooding the zone with flatulence, sucking all the air out of the room … without a thing to say