Chinese battery maker Gotion plans to open a $2 billion factory in northern Illinois, where the company said it will have 2,600 jobs, in a positive development for a governor who has made expanding the electric vehicle industry in the state a top priority.
Gotion and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker on Friday held a ceremony in Manteno, Illinois, to announce the planned facility in Kankakee County about 50 miles south of Chicago’s Loop business district.
The lithium battery manufacturing plant, to be backed by state incentives valued at $536 million, is a significant step in Illinois’ efforts to add jobs in what it believes will be a fast-growing industry.
“Today, we take another leap forward, announcing the largest electric vehicle battery production investment in Illinois to date,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing the deal.
The state already has Rivian’s first car factory in Normal, which is in central Illinois. Canada’s Lion Electric recently opened a bus and truck factory in Joliet, about 45 miles south of the Loop. CoStar News recently reported that Rivian also plans to open a Rush Street showroom in Chicago’s Gold Coast.
TCCI Manufacturing has said it wants to make cooling devices for electric vehicles at a plant in Decatur.
But Illinois has lost out on other planned EV and battery plants, such as a Rivian factory going to Georgia rather than near its existing auto assembly plant, which once was used to make Mitsubishi cars.
That led Pritzker's announcement in December that he had signed an amendment to the Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act to sweeten state incentives needed to compete for new projects.
Gotion is eligible for tax benefits totaling $213 million over 30 years as part of the REV Act. If Gotion spends at least $1.9 billion on the Illinois facility and creates at least 2,600 jobs paying 120% of the average wage for similar job classifications in Kankakee County, the company will receive as much as $536 million in state incentives, the company and state officials said Friday.
Local authorities also have approved property tax abatements for 30 years, according to the statement.
“This announcement is a testament to Illinois’ status as a leading destination for companies and investors who want the most talented workers, the best transportation systems, and a collaborative economic growth mindset from their partners in government at all levels,” Pritzker said in the statement. “With 2,600 new jobs, a $2 billion gigafactory, and the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades — it’s the most recent proof that we are in a new paradigm. Illinois is on the rise, and we’re open for business.”
Beefed-up state incentives, and the ensuing Gotion announcement, come as Pritzker continues pursuing other potential EV deals, including encouraging Stellantis to convert an idled Jeep Cherokee plant in Belvidere into an EV plant.
News of Gotion’s project in Illinois, first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, comes after the company recently announced plans for a similar Midwest facility near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Illinois factory will be used for lithium-ion battery cell and battery pack production and energy storage system integration, the company said.
The Manteno site that Gotion is moving to, at 333 S. Spruce St., is where a nearly 1.6 million-square-foot Kmart distribution facility now stands. The site is 153 acres, according to CoStar data.
Reusing an existing building fits the EV industry’s broader goal of conserving resources, Gotion Chairman Li Zhen said in the statement, adding: “Energy and environmental protection are our common challenges.”
Li said Gotion chose the Illinois site because of “an enabling business environment, a supportive state government for the new energy industry and their highly efficient work, as well as the prospects of the state of Illinois in the coming years.”