General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will set up a $246 million facility backed by funding from the U.S. government to build electric motors to power hybrids and possibly pure electric vehicles.
About 200 jobs will be created to double the workforce at an expanded GM plant in Baltimore that currently makes transmissions, GM said. It will be the first U.S. electric motor manufacturing plant operated by a major automaker.
The move is part of a push by GM and the Obama administration to develop technology for electric cars in the United States and cut into the lead by Asian automakers and suppliers in that potential boom market.
The first GM-designed and built electric motors are scheduled to appear in 2013 in rear-wheel-drive hybrid vehicles. GM said it would consider building motors in-house for a broader range of electric vehicles.
Electric motors -- the equivalent of internal combustion engines that power conventional vehicles -- convert electrical energy from batteries to mechanical energy.
GM's investment in electric motor technology will be underwritten in part by a $105 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy in August, the company said.
The U.S. government holds 61 percent of the company after investing $50 billion in it.
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