LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm says the Biden administration has a new pilot program to get battery plant workers certified in the state.
She discussed the program in Lansing yesterday along with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su at the United Auto Workers Hall.
Granholm says the pilot is a certified training program to make sure there are trained workers available when future battery plants come online.
She notes sales of electric vehicles powered by the batteries have been slower than projected, but adds she expects them to be up as much as 30-percent this year.
Granholm also toured Holland’s LG Energy Solutions electric vehicle battery plant. LG Energy is in the middle of a $3-billion expansion of the plant, and Ford will build its Blue Oval battery plant in Marshall, creating 1,700 jobs. Granholm says Ford “may have gotten a little over their skis” in announcing that plant would create 2,500 jobs, but says “the uptake is happening.”
Comments