GM to Invest $246 Million in Electric Motor Factories
Posted in DOE, Electric Vehicles, Investment on January 26th, 2010 by News Desk –Washington – General Motors announced that it plans to invest a total of $246 million to build facilities in the U.S. where it will make motors for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The company said that manufacturing some of its own electric and hybrid vehicle motors — as opposed to outsourcing all the work — will allow it to better control quality and reliability. The first GM-designed and built electric motors are scheduled to hit the market in 2013 in rear-wheel-drive, “two-mode” hybrid technology.
GM’s two-mode hybrid system will use two unique motor designs and an internal combustion engine to provide improved fuel efficiency, compared with the current two-mode hybrid technology in GM’s full-size pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, the company said.
GM was selected in August by the U.S. Department of Energy for a $105-million grant for the construction of U.S. manufacturing capabilities to produce electric motors and related electric drive components.
The company has been expanding electric motor research and development, design and validation capabilities at facilities in Michigan, Indiana and California. It also has developed math-based design and computing capacity for electric motors.
