DETROIT – The Biden administration on Thursday announced more than $1 billion in grants to help retool or reopen 11 auto plants — including more than $650 million for two factories in Michigan — as they transition toward making electric vehicles.
The list of plants in Michigan includes General Motors’ Lansing Grand River Assembly, which is to be refurbished to allow production of new EV models and could receive up to $500 million, if it, like the other projects, hits marks for retooling, production and hiring or employee retention. The plan calls for retaining more than 650 UAW jobs at the facility and adding 50 new hires.
ZF North America Inc. was also awarded a grant of up to about $158 million to retool a portion of its plant in Marysville in St. Clair County to move from making parts for internal combustion engine vehicles to components for EVs. That grant calls for retaining 536 jobs, including 387 UAW employees.
The announcement was made just ahead of a campaign trip to Detroit by President Joe Biden on Friday as he tries to quell growing concerns that his reelection is at risk, with polls showing him trailing former President Donald Trump in Michigan and other swing states and a debate performance two weeks ago in which he struggled to answer questions coherently.
The list of grantees also includes $335 million to help reopen and convert Stellantis’ idled Fiat Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, to building EVs, restoring some 1,450 union jobs. Another $250 million will go to convert Stellantis’ transmission plant in Kokomo, Indiana, to make electric drive modules, which combine the motor, transmission and other electronics in a single unit in battery-powered EVs, allowing the plant to retain 585 UAW jobs.
The UAW won a commitment that the Belvidere plant would be reopened as part of its successful strike negotiations last year. During that strike, Biden, a staunch union supporter, came to Michigan and became the first sitting president to walk a picket line with striking workers.
Other plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia also received grants to help shore up supply chains and assembly of electric cars, trucks and buses. The funding was included in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022 by Congress.
