DOE announces $1.7 billion in grants to convert facilities for EV production and support US auto workers

Some folks fear that the transition to EVs will lead to major job losses in the auto industry—and not without reason, as EVs require different (and fewer) components than legacy ICE vehicles.

Auto plants around the country are in danger of downsizing or shutting down altogether, and helping these facilities to retool for EV production instead makes economic sense. It could also go a long way toward building support for the EV transition among workers in the auto industry and its vast network of related industries.

To these ends, the US Department of Energy has established the Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program. This IRA-funded program will provide direct grants to recently closed or at-risk facilities to fund the retooling efforts needed to transform production lines from ICE to EV production.

Now the program has announced its first round of award candidates. Eleven at-risk auto manufacturing facilities in eight states—Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia—are slated to receive a total of $1.7 billion in funding. (The DOE must complete negotiations with companies on milestones and other funding requirements, and perform environmental reviews, before the awards are confirmed.)

“There is nothing harder [for] a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Even as our competitors invest heavily in electric vehicles, these grants ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive—and does it in the communities and with the workforce that have supported the auto industry for generations.”

Grant recipients will partner with local unions, and projects will provide support for workers including job and technical training, childcare, retirement benefits and transportation benefits. The DOE says the selected projects could create as many as 2,900 new high-quality jobs, and help protect the jobs of some 15,000 union workers across all eleven facilities. A full list of the selected projects can be found on the DOE’s site.

• GM will receive $500 million to help it convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan to EV production.
• Stellantis will receive $334.8 million to convert the shuttered Belvidere Assembly plant to build EVs, and $250 million to convert its Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo to produce EV components.
• Hyundai Mobis, which operates a Stellantis supplier in Ohio, will receive $32 million to produce plug-in hybrid components and battery packs.
• Harley-Davidson will get $89 million to expand its York, Pennsylvania plant for electric motorcycle manufacturing.
• Blue Bird bagged $80 million to convert a Georgia plant to build electric school buses.
• Cummins came up with $75 million to convert part of an existing Indiana plant to make zero-emission components and electric powertrain systems.
• The Volvo Group will get $208 million to upgrade plants in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania to increase EV production capacity.
• ZF North America nabbed $157 million to convert part of its Marysville, Michigan plant for EV component production.

“This program is fundamentally about reinvesting in the communities that built the vehicles we drive today and supporting them to build the vehicles of the future, illustrating what it means to put working people first in the fight against climate change,” said Jason Walsh, Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a cooperative effort of United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club. “By directing awards to companies making significant commitments to their workers, the Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program will shape an EV future powered by high-quality, union jobs that enrich the communities where they’re located.”

Sources: DOE, BlueGreen Alliance, Reuters

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