Schumer Lead The Charge To Protect & Keep Rochester GM Plant Open When It Was On The Verge Of Closure After 2008 Auto Industry Crash And Fought Non-Stop Personally Calling On GM To Bring New Work To UAW Workers Of The Finger Lakes
Now Electric Battery Components Built At GM Rochester Plant Will Help Power Future EV Production And Lead GM’s Transformation To All-Electric Cars
Schumer: New GM Investment Will Put Rochester Plant in ‘Driver’s Seat’, To Power America’s Electric Vehicle Future
After fighting to save the Rochester plant from closure years ago, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced that following his push, General Motors will invest $68 million at their Rochester manufacturing plant for the production of electric vehicle battery components that will position the plant at the forefront of the rapidly growing electric vehicles market as well as for production of components for GM’s next-generation Gen6 V8 light duty truck engine. The represents the culmination of years of efforts by Schumer to bring new work to the Rochester GM facility, personally lobbying GM, and creating new federal incentives to spur electric vehicle production in America. Schumer said Rochester’s production facility will now be at the heart of GM’s transformation to all-electric and that this work will help sustain their nearly 750 workers for years to come.
“$68 million in new investment is about to supercharge Rochester’s GM facility, sparking the next generation of electric vehicle battery production right here in the Finger Lakes, and helping bring this historic manufacturing plant back to the future. This factory invented fuel injection and now Rochester workers will help power the future of electric cars in America,” said Senator Schumer. “I lead the charge to save the Rochester plant when it was on the verge of closure after the 2008 auto industry crash, and this investment will ensure its long term prosperity for years to come. This new EV battery component line will put this factory in the ‘driver’s seat’ to lead GM’s transformation to an all-electric future.”
Schumer added, “As majority leader, I am proud to have led the historic investments in EV production to help bring this industry back from overseas and I applaud GM for awarding this new work to Rochester. Rochester’s powerhouse union workforce is second to none and I can think of no better team to lead the charge to fuel America’s future and the fight against climate change.”
Dan Maloney President UAW local 1097 said, "The union represented workers at GM Rochester are grateful for the tenacious advocacy Senator Chuck Schumer brings to help secure a long-term future for our manufacturing facility. With his unyielding support for workers, good paying jobs, and New York businesses, we will maintain and grow our Upstate economy. With Senator Schumer leading our political delegation, and keeping the focus on expanding job opportunities, I know our members and our community will prosper. "
The $68 million new investment in the Rochester facility will help put the plant at the center of GM’s transformation to all-electric while building critical components to support GM’s industry-leading truck business. Schumer explained that $56 million will help prepare the facility to build battery pack cooling lines for EV production and $12 million will be invested to prepare the facility to build intake manifolds and fuel rails for GM’s next-generation Gen6 V8 engine. Schumer said this new work to build new parts for both internal combustion and electric vehicles firmly positions Rochester at the heart of GM’s cutting-edge transformation by both helping lead GM’s transition to an all-electric future, while having the flexibility to support production of GM’s Gen6 V8 light duty truck engine manufacturing. The new EV Battery Cooling Line components made in Rochester will be used for the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV and other upcoming EV vehicle releases.
GM’s Rochester facility currently employs nearly 750 workers, including 605 UAW Local 1097 Members. GM has invested $174 million in Rochester since 2011, and nearly $770 million across their Western New York manufacturing plants in the same time period.
This announcement follows more than a decade of work by Schumer to keep the Rochester auto facility open and successful. In 2009, following his support for the U.S. Auto Industry Rescue package, Schumer led the charge to keep the Rochester plant open when it’s then-owner, Delphi, closed dozens of other plants as a result of its bankruptcy. Dozens of other Delphi plants closed, but thanks to Schumer’s intervention Rochester was one of only a few plants that stayed in business. Schumer ultimately succeeded in his push with the Obama Administration and GM to have GM reacquire both the Rochester plant and the Lockport, NY plant from Delphi, thereby keeping these workers and plants in business and safe from closure. Over the past several years in personal letters and calls to GM’s CEO, Schumer has advocated for GM to award new product lines to the Rochester facility and worked with Rep. Joe Morelle to make the case to GM to add new production in Rochester.
Schumer stressed he wants this to only be the beginning of new work building America’s electric vehicle future at UAW-staffed plants in the Finger Lakes and Western New York. Schumer noted that the growing need for electric vehicles should drive new investment at the neighboring GM facilities in Lockport and Tonawanda, as well as the Ford Stamping Plant in Blasdell. The senator just helped deliver a $154 million investment at the GM Lockport manufacturing facility last year for the production of electric motor components. Schumer stated that all four facilities are critical to Upstate New York’s economy and that he would do everything in his power to ensure their continued prosperity and connection to new opportunities in the fast-growing electric vehicle market.
Senator Schumer has long been leading the charge at the federal level to make electric vehicles affordable, and expand electric vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing in the U.S. In October 2019, Schumer unveiled his Clean Cars For America Climate Proposal to help accelerate the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century by making clean cars and charging infrastructure accessible and affordable to all Americans, all while investing in the domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries to ensure the U.S. leads the world in this industry. Schumer was able to realize many of these goals in groundbreaking Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in fighting climate change ever. The Inflation Reduction Act expands consumer tax credits for clean vehicle purchases by providing a new tax credit of $4,000 for the sale of used clean cars, a new tax credit of $7,500 for commercial clean vehicles, and expanded tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasers of certain new clean vehicles that meet domestic content and critical mineral content requirements that scale over time, as well as specifications on the cost of the vehicle and its final assembly. The law also includes incentives for EV charger deployments and funding to retrofit existing manufacturing facilities to make clean vehicles. These tax credits are expected to create huge new market demand and are what have largely spurred companies like GM to double down on their production of clean electric vehicles making investments like this possible.
Additionally, in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, that Schumer led to passage, he successfully secured $7.5 billion to build out a national network of EV chargers, including $175 million for New York, that will put America on the path to a convenient and equitable network of 500,000 chargers across the country. This investment by the federal government is key to accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles; making electric vehicles and the infrastructure they rely on more accessible to all Americans.
The GM Rochester Facility on Lexington Avenue opened in 1939 has produced the highest quality fuel systems and emission control devices for General Motors for over 80 years. Schumer praised GM for its foresight in locating this new production in Rochester and said GM’s employees at the Rochester plant are hard-working, productive and second to none. Rochester’s GM Lexington Avenue Facility invented mechanical fuel injection for the automotive in the 1950's, quadrajet carburation in the 1960's, refined hydrogen fuel cell technology in the 1990's and made the world’s best direct injection systems for GM.
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