From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010
4:20 PM
Subject: What the governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Monday, September 20, 2010
Governor Celebrates Latest Addition to
Michigan’s Growing Advanced Battery Industry
The governor today said Magna E-Car Systems is the
17th and most recent company to join Michigan’s growing advanced battery
industry. The company held a grand opening today in Auburn Hills for its
state-of-the-art testing and development center for hybrid and electric vehicles
and the advanced batteries that power them.
At the 82,000-square-foot facility, approximately
200 employees work in the areas of cells and battery packs, hybrid and electric
vehicle components and complete hybrid and electric vehicle systems. Magna
E-Car Systems manufactures products for the Ford Focus battery electric vehicle,
a Volvo hybrid program, powertrain controllers for General Motors and e-bike
battery management units for Bionx, a developer and manufacturer of electric
propulsion systems for bicycles.
Key messages:
• Just over a year ago, advanced batteries
were being manufactured only in Asia. Now we’re making them in
Michigan.
• Clean energy manufacturing, such as
advanced batteries, is one of the economic sectors we’ve been working to grow to
diversify the state’s economy and create jobs. The 17 advanced battery
companies in Michigan are projected to create more than 63,000 jobs in the state
over the next decade.
• Today’s celebration is another positive
result of the public and private sectors collaborating to bring new investment
and jobs to our state and nation. In August 2009, Magna E-Car Systems was
among 12 Michigan projects to receive U.S. Department of Energy grants funded by
the Recovery Act to support advanced battery and electric vehicle manufacturing
and development. Combined, the 12 Michigan projects were awarded $1.35
billion — more than all other states combined.
• The
Department of Energy grants, combined with Michigan’s first-in-the-nation tax
credits that encourage companies to develop and manufacture advanced batteries
and commercialize advanced battery technologies in Michigan, have generated an
entire new industry in our state that didn’t exist a year ago.
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