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General Motors said on the 25th that it is preparing to invest about 7 billion US dollars in Michigan to transform its factory to produce electric pickup trucks and build a new battery factory.

General Motors said it will invest $4 billion to renovate and expand its Orion Township plant to produce electric pickup trucks; and invest $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion to build its third U.S. battery plant with partners. Both plants are expected to start production in about two years.

The battery factory will be built by Ultium Cells, a joint venture between South Korea's LG Energy and General Motors in the United States, with an investment of $2.6 billion. It is expected to start mass production in early 2025, with an annual production capacity of 50GWh, which is enough for 700,000 vehicles. The car provides the battery.

GM CEO Mary Barra said the investment will make Michigan the epicenter of the electric vehicle industry. When the two plants come online, GM will produce 600,000 electric pickups a year, Barra said.

General Motors President Mark Royce said it would make sense to locate the new battery plant near its large manufacturing plant. For companies that need to build entirely new factories, GM can give itself a competitive advantage by quickly retrofitting existing plants to produce pure electric vehicles.

GM previously said it would build four battery factories in North America, but the location of the fourth has not yet been announced. The battery factories currently under construction in Ohio and Tennessee are expected to start production this year and next year, respectively, with an estimated annual capacity of 35GWh.

Electric vehicle sales are expected to grow rapidly in the U.S. market, along with a rapid shift in production. Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. will grow from 400,000 in 2021 to 2.2 million in 2025, accounting for 13 percent of new vehicle sales, according to Elsie Automotive Market Consulting.

According to the current target, GM plans to produce only electric passenger cars by 2035, and launch 30 electric models globally by 2025.

LG Energy, the world's second-largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, is expanding its North American operations aggressively and is planning to invest at least 5 trillion won ($4.17 billion) by 2024. Globally, LG Energy plans to invest 8.84 trillion won to expand production.

Data shows that with the rapid growth of the North American electric vehicle market, battery production capacity will maintain an annual growth rate of 58% by 2025, increasing from 46GWh in 2021 to 286GWh.