A $32.6 million federal grant will “help set up production of the Jeep Gladiator plug-in electric hybrid vehicle in Toledo,” The Toledo Blade reports. U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (D, Toledo) announced the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s grant, part of its Electric-Vehicle Conversion Grants program, to American Autoparts and Mobis North America. American Autoparts will “convert its existing internal-combustion-engine complete chassis assembly plant” into a facility to “assemble plug-in-hybrid-electric/internal combustion-engine complete chassis,” according to the article. That project will “retain 345 United Auto Workers jobs and create an estimated 38 union jobs supporting the manufacture of a new light PHEV truck.”
Funds will also go toward “construction of a battery system assembly plant at the new 285,000-square-foot Mobis North America facility at the Toledo Trade Centre Industrial Park,” creating another 185 jobs “to produce battery packs for PHEV SUVs, PHEV light trucks, and PHEV minivans.” Total project cost is $65,235,758, “with American Autoparts and Mobis North America matching DOE’s $32,617,879 investment.” Mobis is Jeep’s biggest supplier; the plant is expected to supply “the nearby Toledo Assembly Complex, which builds the Wrangler and Gladiator.” The Ohio Tax Credit Authority “approved a 1.486 percent, eight-year Job Creation Tax Credit worth potentially more than $1.1 million for the project.” That agency said Ohio “was competing with Michigan to land the project.” For more, read the full article (subscription may be required).
