GM Creates New Battery Plan, New Jobs

When General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection about a week about, many questions arose over how, or even if the car giant could survive and reinvent itself. But with recent developments and strategic movies, GM is finding new life.

In Warren, Michigan, right outside of Detroit, The automaker opened up the Warren Technical Center, which will be used to create and test lithium ion batteries. These batteries will help create greater fuel efficiency, and hopefully someday rid the need of a stop to the gas pump. General Motors hasn't been this involved with battery research since its first electric car, The EV1, had a brief existence in the mid 1990's. Since then GM had, for the most part, abandoned the idea of a car which generated its power from a battery.

In an article published in WIRED magazine, the new CEO of General Motors, Fritz Henderson stated the brand new, state of the art facility, would make the company more competitive by speeding up the process of hybrid and plug-in vehicles.

The facility itself will be used to test the life of lithium ion batteries by submitting them to real-world driving tests and depleting and charging the batteries repeatedly to help develop new ways of extending the batteries life (among other tests performed at the lab).

This will be a welcoming change to the Detroit area and the state of Michigan, who has grown accustomed to loosing jobs over the past several years, rather than creating them. According to ABC News 12 (local news affiliate out of Mid-Michigan), the state's unemployment rate is nearly 13%, the highest in the nation, and is in large part do to the recent decline of the auto industry. The 1000 jobs created by the Warren Technical Center will be a start in helping approve those dismal numbers.

In addition to the plant, General Motors has several other plans for the state, which will include the actual assembly line for the new battery. The battery has been planned to power a new Chevy Volt which will be available for sale towards the end of 2010. The auto company also has plans to work with The University of Michigan (which is located in Ann Arbor, roughly 45 minutes away from GM's head quarters), by creating a specific battery curriculum in the university's engineering program. These additions alone will help not only the struggling auto giant, but the struggling state as well. The old addage "How GM goes the country goes," may not fit anymore, but maybe should be changed to "How GM goes the state of Michigan goes."

Sources:

Brown, Angela. "Latest Michigan unemployment numbers paint another dismal picture." ABClocal.go.com

Squatriglia, Chuck. "GM's 'reinvention' starts with $25 million battery lab." CNN.com