GM spending $760M to convert Toledo factory to make EV parts

TOLEDO (Ohio) — General Motors plans to spend $760 millions to renovate its Toledo transmission factory, Ohio so it can produce electric vehicle drive lines.

This is the first GM engine and transmission plant to make the long transition from internal combustion engines into electric vehicles. The company aims to make only 2035. electric passenger vehicles.

The move will preserve the jobs of approximately 1 ,500 per hour and salaried workers at Toledo’s plant, which currently makes four transmissions for pickup trucks. There is no new hiring.

“This investment builds job security for our Toledo staff for years to come and is the next step in our journey towards an all-electric future,” Gerald Johnson (executive vice president of global manufacturing at GM) said in a Friday statement. This is good news for workers in Toledo who were worried about the future prospects of their plant. GM employs about 10,000 workers at engine and transmission factories across the U.S., and their futures are uncertain as the switch to electric vehicles picks up momentum.

” This is great news for our plant because we’re getting a new product,” said Kim Hunter Jones, a worker from Adrian, Michigan. However, she is concerned about the workers at other GM engine or transmission plants who don’t yet have assurances they will build electric vehicle components.

GM states that the factory will continue to produce transmissions for internal combustion engines, as well as electric drive units. The plant will eventually make only EV components. However, sales will determine when that happens.

Renovation work on the plant will begin this month. GM stated that

Electric drive unit converts power from the batteries to motion at the wheels.

The 2.8 million-square-foot Toledo plant, built in 1956, will make drive units for future electric trucks including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, along with GMC Hummer EVs. Mary Barra, CEO of

GM, has promised to challenge Tesla as the top-selling EV manufacturer by the middle of the decade.