General Motors has announced it will create a new manufacturing plant in Lordstown to build high-performing batteries for electric vehicles. The new project is expected to bring more than 1,000 new jobs to the Mahoning Valley.
GM is teaming up with LG's chemical subsidiary for the $2.3 billion venture.
GM closed its Lordstown plant, where the Chevy Cruze was built, in March. Since then, about 1,400 workers employed at Lordstown have transferred to GM plants elsewhere.
GM CEO Mary Barra wouldn’t say if those former Lordstown workers might receive priority hiring.
"This will be a joint venture so it's a joint entity and so that will have to be worked through but clearly we want to tap into the great workforce that's in Ohio," Barra said.
Hundreds of GM employees already took new jobs within the company.
The new plant aims to make batteries at a lower cost for GM's new fleet of electric vehicles.
Mahoning Valley Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH 13) is praising the partnership.
He says this is a long term investment for the community, and economy, of the Valley.
“We are positioned now to have a really good run here in the next couple of decades,” Ryan said. "Because we’re investing into industries of the now but also of the future, and this battery plant is the perfect example of that.”
Ryan says he sees this announcement as a nod to the community, citing the Valley’s deep ties to General Motors.
Ryan says there has not yet been a conversation with GM on whether or not the new battery plant will use union labor.
