GM Confirms Plan to Build Long-Range Electric Car in Michigan

[jpak]

Source: Wall Street Journal

CHICAGO— General Motors Co. confirmed it will build a long-range electric car at a Michigan factory that was kept open by the Obama administration during the 2009 government bailout of the auto maker.

GM will invest $160 million in the Orion, Mich., assembly plant located in Detroit’s northern suburbs to prepare it for electric-vehicle production. The announcement comes only a few months before labor talks with the United Auto Workers union, and U.S. product sourcing decisions often play a significant role in negotiations.

Based on the Chevrolet Bolt concept car shown at last month’s Detroit auto show, the car is expected to go on sale in 2017 with a $30,000 price tag and be aimed at competing with Tesla Motors Inc. and Nissan Motor Co. electric vehicles.

Building an electric vehicle in the U.S. is a financial risk, as the combination of soft demand for battery-powered vehicles and high costs of the technology could lead to losses if aggressive production targets are missed.

The Orion plant in 2009 was the recipient of $1 billion in promised grants and local tax.

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Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/gm-confirms-plan-to-build-long-range-electric-car-in-michigan-1423751401

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But I thought that unions destroyed MI's auto industry...

[FrodosPet]

1. Sweet news!

[olddots]

2. its about time

Fossil fuel is over or humans are over .

[a kennedy]

6. D*mn right it's about time.....

My next car IS going to be a electric car. Now come on GM. Keep it within a reasonable price range also.

[whatthehey]

7. already there and not going back. This one has potential too

Hopefully they keep it mass-market friendly in looks and at least come close to the expected range, which will probably be about 130 real world with a 200 headline number (neither people nor roads nor the climate are often ideal for getting maximum EV range).

Far more people than think so can make do just fine with the current non-Tesla EV norm of 70 miles comfortably, but nigh doubling that at the same general price point would be a game changer.

[brush]

3. GM can dust off its files from the 90s electic car they produced . . .

but then killed at the urging of the oil companies.

They actually recalled all the EV1 cars and crushed them.

[longship]

4. Yup. I remember the Chrysler Turbine.

They were put together in a little shop near my house. I rode past it on the way to Jr. High school on my bicycle. They only made 50 of them, but they were cool. I got to ride in one once.

I don't know what happened to them, but I suspect that Chrysler did something similar as GM and the EV1.

[cojoel]

8. GM sells electric cars now

The Chevrolet Volt has a 40 mile EV range (the second generation 2016 model will have a 50 mile EV range) and a gasoline range extender. It has been on sale since the 2010 model year.

The Chevrolet Bolt, a pure BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) that is a small cross-over, was first displayed at the Detroit Auto Show in January. That prototype was built in Australia. This article is stating the production models will actually be built in Michigan. All that said, it is more likely to compete with a Nissan Leaf, and possibly a BMW i3, but probably not a Tesla.

There are a very small number of EV1s still around. Electric cars have come a long way since then.

[brush]

9. Yeah, I know about the Volt

Glad to see GM has come full-circle from their '90s oil industry kowtow.

[Populist_Prole]

5. I love hearing "Man bites dog" news stories like these

Gives me hope they "get it".

Also, if it pisses of conservatives ( as well it may ) then so much the better.

[deancr]

10. The state repubs will claim credit

Even though the repubs have attached fee increases for electric vehicles as part of a road repair tax hike referendum to be put before the electorate in the Spring, no doubt the repub gov, and repub-controlled house and senate will claim credit for the new green jobs.

Never mind that the referendum wouldn't be necessary if the gov hadn't given away 1.8 billion in tax reductions to business (partially recouped with tax increases on the elderly, poor, and middle-class) and that job growth in Michigan lags behind most of the country.

Here is hoping that the next census will rectify the gerrymandered mess in Michigan and much of the country. Meanwhile, crazy town.