DETROIT — General Motors Corp., a wounded company living on cash borrowed from the government, didn't behave like one Monday as it unveiled ambitious plans to research and assemble lithium-ion batteries in Michigan and picked a Korean company to supply the cells to power the Chevrolet Volt electric car.
But a top executive raised the prospect that GM will need more federal loans later in the year if the U.S. auto market doesn't improve, saying that the company presented a worst-case scenario to the government last year that would require $18 billion in loans, $4.6 billion more than the Bush administration has granted.
The battery factory, to be opened somewhere near Detroit, will employ more than 100 people and be highly automated as it takes cutting-edge lithium-ion cells imported from LG Chem Ltd. of South Korea and welds them into battery packs for the Volt and other next-generation vehicles from GM.
GM also announced the creation of a 31,000-square-foot battery lab, the largest in the country run by an automaker, at its Warren technical center. It also said it has joined with the University of Michigan to test batteries at the Ann Arbor campus and train future engineers to design electric-car components.
No one would say how many jobs would be created, but the news was welcomed by Michigan officials who are trying to bring down the state's 9.6 percent unemployment rate, highest in the nation.
Tony Posawatz, GM's vehicle line director on the Volt, said he expects the battery factory and lab will bring in suppliers of parts for electric cars, creating another employment base for troubled Detroit.
"We have enough critical mass that future growth will cluster," he said.
Proximity is importantAn existing facility that straddles the border between Detroit and the tiny enclave of Hamtramck will assemble the Volt, so southeastern Michigan is the likely front-runner to land the battery factory.
Gary Cowger, GM's manufacturing chief, said it's important that the new factory be near the Volt plant because each battery pack is 6 feet long and weighs 400 pounds.
The Volt is designed to plug into a standard wall outlet and travel 40 miles on battery power alone. After that, a small internal-combustion engine kicks in to generate power. The car is set to go on sale late next year at a price expected from $30,000 to $40,000.
Monday's announcement at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit was fresh evidence that GM expects to survive the recession and thrive, even as Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson raised the prospect of federal loans beyond the $13.4 billion already granted to GM.
Henderson wouldn't speculate on what would cause GM to seek more money, but he said the company submitted a "downside scenario" in December that would require a total of $18 billion.
"We had said at the time there could be financing beyond what was just called for in the baseline plan," Henderson said. "It's just speculation to say what would be required beyond the 13.4."
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