WASHINGTON — The federal government is providing $1.7 billion in grants to help revitalize 11 shuttered or at-risk auto manufacturing and assembly facilities — including two in Michigan, the White House and Department of Energy said early Thursday.

The grants will go to projects across eight states — Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia. Collectively, according to the Biden administration, the projects could result in the creation of 2,900 new jobs and the retention of 15,000 current ones.

"This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia — by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities," President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The move comes as the president fights for his political life following a shaky debate performance two weeks ago that has many in the Democratic Party calling for him to step aside. Michigan, the heart of the U.S. auto industry and a pivotal electoral battleground, features heavily in both respects.

And the grants come as the global auto industry is recalibrating the slowing pace of EV adoption: would-be customers are balking at comparatively high prices, voicing concerns with range anxiety, charging availability and public money subsidizing private industry.

More than half of the new funds are heading to projects in or with ties to the Great Lakes state. General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV are each slated to receive more than $500 million, with another nearly $158 million going to ZF North America Inc., an auto parts supplier with a facility in Marysville. Ford Motor Co. will not receive any funds.

“There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, a former Michigan governor. “Even as our competitors invest heavily in electric vehicles, these grants ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive — and does it in the communities and with the workforce that have supported the auto industry for generations.”

'Supply Chain Conversion' program

All of the projects will in some way support a transition to low-emission vehicles — a top priority for Biden as a way to fight climate change and keep China from dominating the growing electric vehicle sector of the world auto market. That transition has proven challenging for automakers, though recent EV sales data were promising for some automakers like GM.

The Biden administration also said that the creation and retention of good-paying, union jobs was a key consideration in picking who would receive grants.

"We recognize that union workers have built the middle class and those same workers are going to power our clean energy future," said Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. "We're funding projects where workers have a real voice in the job, where they have training and upper mobility, and where they have access to supportive services like child care and transportation."

The selections announced Thursday are part of the Department of Energy's Domestic Automotive Supply Chain Conversion Grants program, which is funded by the Inflation Reduction Act that passed in 2022.

The applicant pool, which the administration said was much larger than they could accommodate with the current round of funding, was restricted to companies that committed to taking on at least 50% of their project.

Also, the chosen companies will not automatically receive funds, but rather they will next negotiate with the federal government for awards that specifically support the plans they submitted during the application process.

"The Department of Energy has made clear, and this administration has made clear, that grants are not blank checks to corporations," Su said.

Michigan projects

Still, the program could deliver significant government funding to several projects in or near Michigan.

GM will receive up to $500 million to convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant to producing EVs from producing internal combustion engine cars. It will support the retention of more than 650 jobs and create 50 new ones, according to a project description released by the Biden administration.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Holly Democrat who represents Lansing, said the investment of federal tax dollars into GM's assembly plant near downtown Lansing will help the U.S. compete against China in the manufacturing of EVs.

"Whether or not you drive an EV today, or ever care to, there's no denying they will be a big part of the vehicles of tomorrow," Slotkin said Thursday in a statement. "All you have to do is look at Europe and Mexico and see that China is looking to be the manufacturer of this next generation of vehicles. That's why it's essential to our economy and national security that electric vehicles, the batteries and components they run on, and other critical products are made in America."

Stellantis, specifically Fiat-Chrysler U.S. Automobiles, will receive up to almost $575 million. About $335 million will go towards a project in Belvidere, Ill. and another $250 million for a project in Kokomo, Indiana.

The Belvidere project aims to convert an idled assembly plant there to building EVs from assembling such ICE vehicles as the Jeep Cherokee. The project would restore approximately 1,450 unionized jobs. The plant has been idled since February 2023.

The Kokomo project would convert the automaker's Indiana Transmission Plant to initiate manufacturing of electric drive modules. The administration said it would "result in the retention and upskilling of 585 employees," all of whom would be members of the United Auto Workers union.

ZF North America — which has a facility in Marysville near the St. Clair County border with Canada — will receive up to $157.7 million to help produce components for electric passenger and heavy-duty vehicles, resulting in the potential retention of 536 jobs, most of which are represented by the UAW.

"ZF’s intention is to provide critical componentry to electrify light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles," ZF spokesperson Tony Sapienza said in a statement to The Detroit News. "Our potential investment in our Marysville, Michigan facility would enhance the domestic EV supply chain, paving the way for a more robust, efficient, and environmentally sustainable automotive industry."

Sapienza added that ZF is pleased by the news, though he noted that discussions with the Energy Department are ongoing and ZF's participation is "contingent upon a future customer."

American Autoparts Inc. — a parts supplier with two facilities in Toledo, Ohio — will receive up to $32.6 million for two projects that will support chassis assembly for a new light plug-in hybrid truck and the construction of a new battery system assembly plant. The projects, respectively, will be at the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex and the Toledo Trade Centre Industrial Park.

Biden said that the move Thursday "delivers on my commitment to never give up on the manufacturing communities and workers that were left behind by my predecessor and are now making a comeback with the support of my policies."

"I’ll never stop fighting for the American auto industry and American autoworkers."

_____

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.