GM’s new partnership to create 600-700 jobs and a new U.S. factory

General Motors and battery manufacturer Microvast are partnering to develop new electric vehicle battery technology and build a factory in the United States with hundreds of jobs to manufacture what they call specialized separators.

The two companies announced the partnership Wednesday, saying the factory and the specialized separator technology development will be funded by a $200 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing initiative and by $300 million that GM and Microvast will put into it.

“We’re characterizing it as a collaboration,” Sarah Alexander, Microvast general counsel, told the Free Press. “The bulk of the $300 million will come from Microvast.”

Separators are EV battery components that are key to safety. The companies will work to develop new separator technology that can help improve EV safety, charging and battery life.

Alexander said the partnership will create 600 to 700 new jobs, mostly at the new factory, but there will be some new positions at Microvast’s and GM’s existing locations to support the technology.

“GM has some intellectual property and Research and Development” that’s conducted at its Global Technical Center in Warren, Alexander said. So some of the new jobs could end up in Warren.

Microvast, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, is leading the site selection for the new factory and Alexander said they have had discussions with “governments of multiple states” for tax incentives. Microvast has compiled a “short list” of desired states to locate the new plant, but has not finalized it. She declined to name which states are in the running, but said that Michigan is not on the short list. She added, though, that “no location is completely ruled out.”

Microvast has three locations in the U.S.: Texas, Tennessee and Florida. It also operates out of Germany and China. Its batteries are integrated in more than 30,000 vehicles, running in 160 cities across 19 countries, according to its website.

“We don’t have a direct presence in Michigan right now,” Alexander said. “But a lot of our customers do.”

She said Microvast expects to make a decision on where to build the new factory by year-end, start construction shortly thereafter and be operating it “some time in 2024.”

“This collaboration with Microvast supports our ongoing efforts to develop a North American-focused EV supply chain and help put everyone in an EV,” said Kent Helfrich, GM chief technology officer and vice president of Research and Development, in a statement.

In the past year, GM has been forming partnerships with EV parts suppliers as the automaker looks to lock in what it will need to transition to a zero-emissions lineup by 2035.