General Motors announced a joint venture Thursday with South Korea-based LG Chem to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in northeast Ohio, a significant step for the nation’s largest automaker in its bid to electrify its future offerings.
The companies said their $2.3 billion investment will create 1,100 jobs near Lordstown, Ohio. It’s the same area where General Motors in November sold a shuttered manufacturing facility to Lordstown Motors, a company seeking to build battery-electric pickups.
The joint venture, coupled with the sale to Lordstown Motors, “positions Northeast Ohio and the Mahoning Valley as a major hub for technology and electric vehicle manufacturing,” GM said in a news release.
The Washington Post:
The Washington Post reports the following:
- The new venture is an equal split between both companies.
- A break from the past, GM now fully supports electric cars.
- The company has some catching up to do since other manufacturers have already introduced electric cars.
- GM did have the now discontinued Chevy Volt, but the battery did not last very long before the gas engine kicked in to generate power for long-distance trips.
- They started making a longer range battery but sales declined.
- GM seeks to add 20 electric vehicle by 2023.
- Battery-electric pickup slated to arrive in 2021.
- The company will let workers decide if they want to unionize or not.
And the nugget:
The joint venture likely will pay less than the roughly $30 per hour that GM pays unionized assembly plant workers. Barra said the plant will follow GM’s component manufacturing strategy, where workers are paid less than at assembly plants. She said it will have to be cost-competitive.
Local 12 News:
