General Motors is planning to invest heavily into electric batteries with a $7 billion investment. To add to this, the company will also be converting another factory in order to handle major production of electric trucks.
GM Plans to Invest $7 Billion in EV Efforts
GM initially announced their investment on Tuesday, saying it plans to build a new EV battery production plant in Michigan. When it comes to batteries, the company will be partnering with LG Chemical to develop a new battery cell manufacturing plant for $2.6 billion. This is expected to go online by 2024.
According to the story by Gizmodo, a massive portion of the investment will go to Chevy Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra's main development site by converting a current factory. In a statement, Mary Barra, the GM Chair and CEO, gave insights regarding the company's investment decision.
Ford Remains One of the Top Competitors of General Motors
Per Barra, the decision was based on "positive consumer response and reservations for our recent EV launches."
To add, the New York Times said that GM will be getting $824 million in economic incentives from the state of Michigan. The company has also said that a total of 4,000 new jobs could be created with the investment.
Other automakers making a shift into EVs include Ford, which is well known as GM's largest competitor. Ford has gained a lot of attention and excitement for its "reasonably priced" F-150 Lightning.
Stellantis Plans to Invest $35.5 Billion Through 2025 Towards EV Tech
Ford also announced that $11 billion would be spent for the construction of "three new battery factories."
In other news, Stellantis also announced its plans to dish out at least $35.5 billion through 2025 to develop EVs and other related technology.
Stellantis is the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep, Doge, and Ram, which are some of the popular names in the US when it comes to automobiles.
These announcements came after the Biden administratin announced an ambitious goal of making sure that EVs accounted for half of every new US car sales by 2030.
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How Far Away is the US in Terms of EVs
Although the new commitments coming from these major car companies are seen as a good step towards realizing the government's goal, per Gizmodo, those that have spent time on a major US interstate know that there is "still a long way to go" before this becomes a reality.
As per Canalys, a research firm, the United States remains "lagging far behind" when compared to other countries when it comes to EV adoption. In relation to that, EV represented a small fraction of just 3% of new car sales in 2021 in the US.
Although it remains an improvement compared to 2020, it is still much less in comparison to the 12% and 15% new car sales in China and Europe, respectively, for EVs during the same period.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
