GM to Open Michigan Battery Pack Plant Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, General Motors will take a significant step in furthering the country's EV industry. It will start operations at the nation's first battery pack plant run by a U.S. automaker. The plant in Brownstown Township, MI will assemble the battery packs for the Chevy Volt.
GM chose January 7 to open up shop because it's exactly three years from the initial announcement of the Volt. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, MIchigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre will all be there to celebrate the event.
The plant will use cells from LG Chem's Compact Power (based in Korea), but all assembly will happen in Michigan. Each Volt battery pack will have about 220 cells and cost about $8,000.
Pretty soon, the announcement of a new battery plant in the U.S. will be commonplace. The recent federal grants and incentives for domestic battery development and production have created a long list of companies vying to join GM's ranks. Earth2Tech has a great map of planned battery projects here.
via Earth2Tech