GM is investing $7 billion in EV to overtake Tesla

General Motors Co. (GM) announced on Tuesday a $7 billion investment in Michigan to boost their production of electric pickups in an attempt to compete with Ford and Tesla for electric vehicle (EV) supremacy in North America.

The new investment in Michigan will increase North America’s EV production capacity to more than one million EV units by 2025. 

Along with the company’s plants in Tennessee, Ontario and Mexico, GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck and Orion Township plants will produce more than 600,000 electric vehicles by 2024.

GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said that GM is "committed to making our home state the epicenter of the electric vehicle industry."

The investment includes $2.6 million for a new battery plant in a venture with LG Energy Solution, and a $4 billion investment to convert its Orion Assembly plant in Detroit to produce electric trucks.

“Michigan will be the recognized hub and leader of innovation in the U.S. for EV R&D and manufacturing,” GM President Mark Reuss said during a media briefing.

Tesla currently leads the EV market and Elon Musk’s company recently announced that it would open a second U.S. plant in Austin, Texas in the foreseeable future.

In January, Ford announced that it would have the capacity to build 600,000 EVs within 24 months, as it aims to become "the clear No. 2 electric vehicle maker in North America."

Last year, Tesla sold 936,172 electric vehicles globally, compared to GM’s 25,000 EV sales. Ford sold 27,140 units of its Mustang EV.

“We will have the products, the battery cell capacity and the vehicle-assembly capacity to be the EV leader by mid-decade,” said Barra.

GM’s investment will create over 4,000 new jobs, which will result in $35 billion in spillover economic opportunities, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said.