Workers at General Motors Co.’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant have begun installing new equipment for the long-awaited Chevrolet Volt electric car, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm and local politicians on Monday celebrated GM’s $336-million investment and the $136 million in tax abatements that made the project possible.
“This is the new GM, the new Michigan and the new electric vehicle,” Granholm said.
Altogether, GM leveraged Detroit abatements and $132.5 million in state tax credits to put $700 million into eight facilities throughout Michigan for future electric car development.
In addition to the Detroit-Hamtramck commitment, the other GM plants benefiting from Volt-related expenditures are:
• Bay City: $37 million for camshafts and connecting rods.
• Flint Engine South: $202 million for tooling needed to make the Volt’s 1.4-liter, four-cylinder engine generator.
• Flint Metal Center: $1.7 million to refurbish stamping press lines.
• Flint Tool & Die: $23 million for new die sets used to stamp Volt body panels.
• Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center: $30 million to produce robotic welding cells for the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.
• Brownstown Township: $43 million for a new plant to make lithium-ion battery packs.
• GM Tech Center: $27 million for research in advanced battery technology.
In all, Granholm said about 40,000 jobs might be created through 12 Obama administration grants totaling $1.36 billion to Chrysler, Ford, GM and other Michigan companies. However, the Volt’s employment impact will be more modest initially.
Michigan Economic Development Corp. records show 101 jobs are to be preserved in Bay City. The Flint Engine investment is to preserve 240 jobs. Thirty workers will be needed for the Flint Metal Center work, and about 250 people are working on the welding cells.
Detroit-Hamtramck now employs 1,200 workers assembling the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne. The plant will be idle from Dec. 14 through January, resuming production at the beginning of February, said plant manager Teri Quigley. During that time, a crew is to install more equipment for the Volt, which is expected to reach Chevrolet showrooms in November 2010.
How many people will be added to make the Volt will depend on demand for the Volt, the DTS and the Lucerne.
Quigley said the first jobs would go to about 50 members of UAW Local 22 who are currently laid off.
Since GM first unveiled the Volt at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Ford and soon Nissan will have introduced new hybrid-electric vehicles.
“This competition will expedite the development of electric vehicle technology and infrastructure,” said Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of global product planning.
The Volt will be able to travel up to 40 miles on battery power alone. When the battery is depleted, the Volt’s engine generator can take it another 300 miles until it is refueled or the battery is recharged.
