(Reuters) – General Motors plans to invest at least $900 million to retool a Lansing, Michigan auto plant to build electric vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday.
Granholm announced GM’s planned investment at an event in Lansing. Earlier on Thursday, she announced that the largest U.S. automaker will receive $500 million in government grants to convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan to EVs at an unspecified future date.
GM said it would produce EVs in Lansing at a future date and declined to discuss details of the planned models but said the plant would continue to produce the Cadillac CT4 and CT5.
In total, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $1.7 billion in planned grants for 11 plants in eight states.
GM said it planned to invest at least $900 million in its application filed with the DOE but the final figure could be higher, a person briefed on the matter said. Last year, the United Auto Workers union said GM had committed in contract talks to invest $1.25 billion in the Lansing plant for a future EV.
The automaker has announced plans to convert a number of internal combustion engine plants to EV production including two other Michigan plants as well as factories in Tennessee, Ohio and Kansas as it plans to end the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
In January 2022, GM announced plans with LG Energy Solution to build a $2.6 billion battery cell manufacturing plant in Lansing. The plant is scheduled to begin production late this year.
The Detroit automaker has announced more than $12 billion in investments for its North American EV manufacturing and supply chain development since 2020.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
