GM to invest millions for electric vehicle manufacturing in Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - General Motors announced Friday that it will be investing millions of dollars for electric vehicle manufacturing in Toledo.

The GM Executive Vice President, Gerald Johnson, announced that GM will invest $760 million to the GM Toledo Propulsion Systems Facility to begin the transition to EV manufacturing.

“Part of that transition is to parallel work of EV propulsion and internal combustion propulsion and what we’re going to do in Toledo is just that,” said Johnson.

While the Toledo plant will continue to work on internal combustion propulsion, this investment will allow the plant to introduce EV propulsion, specifically EV drive units. According to UAW Local 14 President Ray Curry, this is the very first investment in an existing propulsion facility to transform it into EV production.

“They could have done this anywhere,” said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “They had a lot of choices. They could have chosen any town for this game changing announcement. They chose Toledo, they chose you. They believe in Toledo and they believe in you.”

Johnson says the EV upgrades will begin almost immediately this fall in order to be prepared to produce the EV drive units in late 2023, early 2024 and from there on.

Some employees at the facility say the announcement makes them feel more secure in their roles. ” It lets us know that we have a future here, we don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen when we transition into all electric motors. It let us know that we’re going to be a part of the future, we don’t have to worry about going anywhere or transferring to other places,” says Jevon White, a Global Supply Chain Shift Leader at the plant.

The Lucas County Commissioners said the investment will retain union jobs and solidify the region as a leader in the automotive industry.

“We are thrilled General Motors is advancing its longtime commitment to GM Powertrain and will retool the transmission plant to build line drives for electric vehicles, retaining manufacturing jobs for United Auto Workers Local 14, empowering working families, and growing our economy,” a statement from the county commissiones said. “This transformational investment is significant in that it will be the first large-scale related EV manufacturing facility in Lucas County, and continues Northwest Ohio’s momentum in advance automotive manufacturing and as a leader in innovation.”

You can watch the announcement event in full below.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WTVG. All rights reserved.