22:26 25-10-2025

Michigan scraps Gotion EV battery plant as state revokes funding

One of America’s most ambitious industrial ventures—the $2.4 billion Gotion High-Tech battery plant in Michigan—has been officially scrapped. Michigan’s state economic development corporation pulled its financial backing and demanded the return of $23 million in subsidies already paid.

Gotion, a China-based company counted among the world’s top three battery manufacturers, had planned a U.S. facility to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries, promising 2,350 jobs and training for American specialists. Local officials, however, pushed back, alleging links to the Chinese government. After the 2023 elections, the board of Green Charter Township was replaced, and the new lineup voted against the plant.

According to Gotion’s lawyers, Michigan’s reversal was driven by racist and politically motivated attacks. Even without that battle, the project had started to wobble: demand for electric vehicles is cooling, and the $7,500 tax credits for EV buyers have been canceled.

Still, experts concede that turning away projects like this leaves the United States softer in the global battery race, with China already commanding much of the world’s technology and manufacturing. The outcome reads as a strategic retreat just as the supply chain map is being redrawn—and when momentum matters.