General Motors will be granted a generous tax break to construct its electric vehicle battery cell factory in Lordstown, Ohio.
The New York Times reports the town has approved a 75 per cent tax abatement set to extend over 15 years. The battery plant is to be located next to the large Lordstown assembly site that GM recently closed down and sold to electric vehicle startup ‘Lordstown’.
GM’s new battery plant was first announced last fall during contract talks with the United Auto Workers union. The facility will be manufactured thanks to a joint venture established between GM and LG Chem in December last year and the site is set to be one of the largest battery factories in the world.
Read More: GM And LG Chem Investing $2.3 Billion In New Ohio Battery Cell Plant
Despite this, the new battery plant won’t fully make up for the loss of GM’s former factory in Lordstown that produced vehicles for more than 50 years. That site employed 4,500 workers at its peak three years ago when it was running three shifts. By comparison, the battery plant is expected to create roughly 1,100 jobs. The majority of workers from the former factory have either retired or transferred to other GM factories.
It remains to be seen which electric vehicles from General Motors will use batteries made at the Lordstown site but there are a number of potential candidates. For example, GMC’s forthcoming Hummer EV pickup truck is scheduled to hit the production line in the fall of 2021 and could prove to be one of the marque’s best-selling EVs. Numerous other EVs are being developed by the car manufacturer, including an all-electric Cadillac crossover that’s just around the corner and set to premiere with an all-new electric vehicle architecture.
