Obama to visit groundbreaking of Michigan battery plant

Obama to visit groundbreaking of Michigan battery plant
Groundbreaking is Thursday for factory to supply electric cars
David Shepardson / The Detroit News
Washington -- President Barack Obama will make his fourth visit to Michigan since taking office, to take part Thursday in the groundbreaking of a $303 million battery plant.

The White House said Obama will attend the event for an LG Chem factory in Holland.

Obama has backed battery and electric vehicle production and has called for 1 million plug-in vehicles on the roads by 2015.

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Work on the site began early last month on the 650,000-square-foot plant, said Hank Riberas of Roncelli Co., the construction firm overseeing the project.

In March, the South Korean company and its Troy-based unit, Compact Power Inc., confirmed they would build the factory to make battery cells for electric vehicles, including General Motors Co.'s extended-range Chevrolet Volt.

The plant will be able to produce enough cells for up to 200,000 electric vehicle batteries and will create an estimated 300 jobs by 2013 -- in addition to hundreds of construction jobs to build the plant.

Half of the funding came from a $151.4 million federal grant from a $2.4 billion program announced in August to boost battery and electric vehicle research and production. Those funds do not have to be paid back.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has been promoting the state as a center for battery, electric vehicle and other green manufacturing jobs, will attend, as will many other of the state's elected leaders and auto executives.

Last month, Granholm announced state approval of a 15-year-old refundable tax credit for the project.

"Michigan is becoming a world capital for advanced batteries," Granholm said.

While in Nevada on Friday, Obama said his administration is committed to spending money for green jobs.

"We're going to go from 2 percent of advanced battery market share to 40 percent just in the next five years," he said. "That will create thousands of jobs across the country."

The state designation of the 120-acre site as a Renaissance Zone allows a company in the zone to operate free of virtually all state and local taxes.

The first generation of the Volt will go on sale in November using battery cells imported from South Korea.

dshepardson@detnews.com


From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100710/AUTO01/7100331/1148/Obama-to-visit-groundbreaking-of-Michigan-battery-plant#ixzz0tJ2L1dN1


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