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Home | Green Cars News | Technology | GM to Launch Chevy Volt Battery Production in Brownstown Township

GM to Launch Chevy Volt Battery Production in Brownstown Township

06 January, 2010 04:20:00

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GM will start assembling the first lithium-ion battery pack for its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car Thursday at the Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant in Brownstown Township, Michigan.

GM chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre, US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will attend. The batteries will be used in GM’s upcoming Volt extended range hybrid.

As GM says, the event is scheduled to take place “exactly three years to the day” from when the automaker revealed the concept for the Chevy Volt. Batteries assembled in Brownstown Township will be transported to GM's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, where the Volt will be built.

GM is receiving around $241m in federal grants to help it to deliver the Volt, which is seen as central to efforts to revive the fortunes of the ailing manufacturer and cut US vehicle emissions.

Around $106m of the government funding has been invested in the battery pack assembly plant in Brownstown Township, which GM says will make it the first major US automaker to operate such a plant.

GM is investing around US$700m across eight facilities in Michigan in preparation for the Volt. In addition to batteries built at the Brownstown plant, Detroit-Hamtramck will handle final assembly for the Volt, using tooling from Grand Blanc, camshafts and connecting rods from Bay City, and stampings and the Volt’s 1.4-litre engine-generator from Flint.

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