On Tuesday, Mary Barra, the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Corporation announced a seven billion dollar investment in the state of Michigan. The automaker will invest this amount in four different manufacturing sites. The investment will include a new unit at Lansing to build Ultium Cells battery as well as to convert the Orion Assembly Plant at Lake Orion, to build full-size electric pickups.

Mary Barra said that the move would help GM make their home state of Michigan, the epicenter of the electric vehicle (EV) industry. This goal will be achieved by building infrastructure for battery production, on the outskirts on Lansing and by adding EV truck assembly capacity at the factory in Lake Orion. The Michigan government has also approved new incentives of $666 million and property tax breaks of $158 million.

According to a company press release, the investment by GM will aid growth and development for four manufacturing sites for both cars and batteries. This will lead to a creation of 4,000 additional jobs. It will also help retain 1,000 existing jobs.

GM’s latest investment is a business decision with its battery partner. However, the automaker is also cheered by the fact that its labor force suffered through economic and other hardships through the pandemic as well as faced uncertainties of going electric till the current investment was announced.

Mark Reuss, GM president said that it was “emotional” for him as a “Michigander” and that it was emotional to “see the plants rewarded” for the hard work they had put.

Reuss also said on a call with media that 600,000 electric pickups will be built when both the plants of GM will be running in full capacity. He said that the company would have more than a million units of battery electric vehicle capacity in the nation by 2025.

Labor leaders have also welcomed the decision. James Harris, director of United Auto Workers Region 1, which represents Lake Orion said that all of them were “totally elated.”