The Canadian company will build a $3M electric vehicle charger plant in Auburn Hills

A company that manufacturers gear to charge electric vehicles will open its first U.S. plant in Auburn Hills, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the company’s CEO announced Tuesday. FLO, based in Quebec City, Canada, plans to finish by the following fall a facility that will cost $3 million and make 133 jobs, said CEO Louis Tremblay.

The project is attached to an $800,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., said Quentin Messer, CEO of the MEDC.

Michigan has for some time been a middle for the manufacturing of vehicles with internal combustion engines. Presently, “this transition to electric represents a tremendous opportunity,” Whitmer said at a news meeting in Lansing. “Drivers are ready for this transition and they want to participate.”

FLO, a subsidiary of AddEnergie, offers home charging equipment for both single-family houses and multi-unit residential buildings, as well as admittance to thousands number of public charging stations, as per the company website. It likewise gives systems to property managers, business owners, employers, and municipal administrators who wish to support EV adoption by providing charging services, the website says.

The project is expected to make 133 jobs next year. The quantity of direct jobs is supposed to develop to 500 by 2028 when the company hopes to create 250,000 EV chargers for the U.S. market, as indicated by an economic report accompanying an FLO news discharge.

Tremblay said the Auburn Hills facility will manufacture chargers for both residential and commercial use.

“We are proud to welcome FLO to Michigan and serve as the home for their very first manufacturing facility in the United States,” Whitmer said in a news release.

“As we look toward growing our economy, investing in our workforce, and creating good-paying jobs, we know the importance of leading the transition to electric vehicles. FLO’s presence in Oakland County builds on our tradition of automotive manufacturing with an eye toward our electrified future.”

Tuesday’s announcement is the most recent in a series of automotive-related economic development announcements by the Whitmer administration, with the vast majority of the spending connected with EV technology.

Keep going Thursday, on Mackinac Island, Whitmer joined Ford officials in announcing investments of more than $2 billion across the company’s Michigan plants, which the company said are supposed to make in excess of 3,200 jobs.

The investments in five plants, dependent upon endorsement of about $101 million in state subsidies, were planned to propel Ford’s electric vehicle future in the state while likewise securing its existing internal combustion vehicle operations, Ford said.

In a $7-billion January announcement, GM said it would spend $2.6 billion to build another new battery factory in the Lansing region and $4 billion to transform its current factory in Orion Township over completely to make electric pickups, on top of expenditure about a half of a billion dollars to make moves up to its two existing vehicle gathering plants in Lansing. The company said the tasks, attached to about $824 million in state incentives, would make 4,000 jobs.

In February, Whitmer made the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification and the Council on Future Mobility coordinate all auto and mobility-related initiatives.

Whitmer’s 2023 budget, still working its way through the Legislature, would give a $2,000 refund for the acquisition of an electric vehicle on top of the $7,500 federal credit and a $500 rebate for at-home charging infrastructure.