General Motors is expected to announce soon a total of $6.5 billion in new capital investments in Michigan, including the previously announced electric-vehicle battery plant in the Lansing area and a third EV assembly plant in Orion Township. The two projects would create up to 4,000 jobs, according to local news reports.
In December 2021 GM and its joint-venture partner selected Lansing as the site of their third electric-vehicle battery plant, a project that is seen starting operation in 2025. The Ultium Cells LLC venture will build a plant of about 2.5 million square feet for battery-cell manufacturing – with machinery and equipment for electrode mixing, coating, and assembly – and eventually employing up to 1,700.
The value of that project will be $2.5 billion.
Two other Ultium Cells plants are under construction already, in Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tenn.
GM’s Orion Township assembly plant produces Chevrolet Bolt electric cars and SUVs, though production is suspended currently due to the recall of defective lithium-ion batteries. The automaker apparently plans to add electric pick-up truck assembly at that location, too, a projected $4-billion project that could lead to 2,300 new jobs.
Orion Township recently approved a tax-abatement request for a proposed $1.3 billion investment by General Motors for the plant there, for 12 years, plus three years during construction. The project would start in July.
The automaker said the "proposed investment is primarily for the construction of several additions and land improvements to support electric vehicle production."
"GM sincerely appreciates the support the Orion Township Board of Trustees showed by approving our tax abatement application this evening," a GM spokesman said.