GM plans $6.5B EV investment at two Michigan plants

DETROIT -- General Motors is expected on Tuesday to outline plans to invest $6.5 billion for EV projects at two sites in Michigan.

The investment would create 4,000 jobs in Orion Township and the Lansing suburb of Delta Township in Eaton County, according to a Jan. 25 board meeting agenda for the Michigan Strategic Fund that was posted online Friday.

The Michigan Strategic Fund's board is expected to approve a state tax incentives package for the automaker. The value of the incentives has not yet been made public by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

GM is expected to tap its Orion Assembly plant for production of new electric vehicles and battery assembly, while sites in the Lansing area would build proprietary Ultium batteries with LG Energy Solution.

GM has revealed few details of what it has planned for the projects, but CEO Mary Barra has said the automaker plans to invest $35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicle development and have 30 EV models available globally through 2025. GM is aiming for a fully electric portfolio by 2035.

The company is expected to announce the investments Tuesday at an event in Lansing.

"GM appreciates the support it has received from the Governor, the State Legislature, Orion Township, the City of Lansing and Delta Township related to two prospective projects that GM is considering in Orion Township and Lansing. Until these projects receive final approval, we have no comment on potential announcement timing," GM spokesman Dan Flores said in a statement Friday.

The Orion Township plant, which opened in 1983, has a workforce of 1,029 hourly and 152 salary employees. GM estimates 2,000 new jobs will be created by the end of 2028 through the expansion of the Orion Assembly complex, according to a tax abatement approved Tuesday by the Orion Township board of trustees.

In December, the Michigan Legislature raced a new $1 billion tax incentives fund — paid for with federal stimulus funds — to Whitmer's desk for her speedy signature before Christmas.

The fund was pitched by some lawmakers as critical to winning GM's next battery plant. The automaker has previously announced plans to build EV battery plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tenn.

The expected plant in Lansing could supply batteries to GM's Factory Zero plant in Detroit, which builds electric trucks, and its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, which will build BrightDrop delivery vans.

Chad Livengood is a reporter for Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News.