The next generation of electric cars and their batteries could create 62,000 jobs in the U.S. state of Michigan over the next decade, which shows the need for government investment in private industry, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The U.S. has lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, with states from the Midwest hit particularly hard, according to data from the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Compact Power Inc. plant in Holland, for example, a subsidiary of Korean battery maker LG Chem, will supply cells for the Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car.
The factory, which received 151 million US-Dollars from a federal stimulus program to open a 303 million US-Dollar plant, is expected to employ about 450 people by 2013. Barack Obama last year announced plans to use 2.4 billion US-Dollars in federal funds to develop electric vehicles and batteries, and has set a goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. (August 4th 2010)
Source: Chicago Tribune
