[DetroitMan]

Lots of big news on the EV front for the City of Detroit...
Fortescue CEO: Detroit is ‘best place’ for new $210M EV battery factory, 600 jobs

A global mining and green energy company is looking to breathe new life into a vacant industrial building in Detroit with plans to invest up to $210 million and create up to 600 new jobs.

Fortescue WAE received approval of $12.7 million in state incentives Tuesday to support an electric vehicle battery systems factory in the city’s Milwaukee Junction district, next to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum marking the birthplace of Ford Motor Co.’s Model T. CEO Judith Judson told Crain’s that plugging into the historical epicenter of automotive made sense for the company’s first U.S. plant.

“We see so much opportunity in the U.S., and when we look at Michigan specifically, it really comes down to it’s an extremely attractive place to manufacture, there’s a highly skilled workforce both in manufacturing and in engineering,” said Judson, who earned her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University in Flint before taking a co-op role with General Motors Co.

“I understand and really know the value Michigan has for producing and supplying to the automotive industry.”

Fortescue, based near London since its acquisition of WAE in 2022, has ambitions to get the battery factory off the ground quickly. It aims to start construction at the brownfield site this year with the goal of going into production mid-next year with the first battery assembly line, according to a Michigan Economic Development Corp. briefing memo.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/manufacturing/fortescue-detroit-best-place-210m-ev-battery-plant


German EV charging company plans $14.4M North American HQ in Corktown

Yet another electric vehicle charging company is targeting Southeast Michigan for operations.

German EV charging company EcoG GMBH plans to invest $14.4 million and create a North American headquarters in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, adjacent to Ford Motor Co.'s roughly $800 million Michigan Central project, according to a briefing memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

EcoG would be headquartered in the renovated Book Depository building, now called Newlab. The Michigan Strategic Fund board on Tuesday approved a $1.5 million Michigan Business Development Program grant as part of the capital stack to make the EcoG development economically viable, according to a memo from the MEDC to the MSF board. The memo says the company also considered facilities in Georgia and Ohio for its investment.

“This project aligns with the MEDC’s strategic focus area of supporting a business in the target industry of mobility and builds on the state's work to position itself as the global leader in the future of mobility and vehicle electrification,” according to the memo. “The proposed project will also impact the local region with high wages from an emerging EV technology provider.”

The planned project would result in up to 45 new jobs paying $2,777 per week plus benefits, according to the memo. Founded in 2017 in Munich, Germany, EcoG has 42 employees and a 15% market share in the European Union EV charging market.

EcoG has partnerships with about 30 car manufacturing companies, including each of the Big 3 automakers headquartered in metro Detroit, according to the memo. The company raised nearly $6.3 million in a Series A venture capital funding in late 2022, according to Pitchbook, a data provider for the startup and venture capital sector.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/manufactur...y-ecog-plans-north-american-base-detroit