The battery manufacturing company Gotion has announced that the company is going to locate its new $2 billion electric vehicle lithium battery manufacturing factory in Manteno, Illinois, which will begin production in 2024. The decision is expected to create 2,600 jobs.
According to the company, they are not building a new factory but are planning to reuse an existing one. Gotion’s new EV battery plant is also expected to help strengthen the supply chain as well as meet growing demand across EV manufacturers across North America.
Therefore, the factory will focus on lithium-ion battery cells, battery pack production, and energy storage system integration. It will cover approximately 150 acres and plans to produce 10 GWh of lithium-ion battery packs and 40 GWh of lithium-ion battery cells.
$2B Factory to Meet Demand in EV Sector
Gotion selected Illinois to locate its factory because of competitive incentives through REV Illinois, infrastructure, access to markets, as well as an abundant and qualified workforce.
The total incentive package from the State of Illinois including REV, Invest in Illinois, and other incentives, is valued at $536 million. According to the REV agreement, Gotion is going to invest at least $1.9 billion in Illinois and create 2,600 full-time jobs that are paid at least 120% of the average salary of similar jobs in Kankakee County.
In contrast, Gotion will also receive Invest in Illinois funding for $125 million in capital funding to the company. The fund was signed into law in early 2023 to make Illinois more attractive in high competition for large projects like clean energy. Not only that, Gotion was also approved by local authorities for property tax abatement for 30 years.
EV-related Jobs Will Be Created
In many ways, it is easy to see how many new EV-related jobs are going to be needed in the future. In the EV battery-making sector, it is predicted to need over 100 battery cell manufacturing locations by 2035 to meet the projected demand. If each factory employs 2,000 to 3,000 workers, it will likely create 200,000 to 300,000 new battery-related jobs.
