Global Corporate Xpansion

“We’re seeing heavy investment by at least three firms moving forward in this area, and we’re courting one more,” says Peter Auger, city manager, city of Auburn Hills, Mich.

Infrastructure also is a consideration as both consumers and public utilities will need to be ready to support this new technology. “We want to help future owners of Ford’s EV optimize the way they recharge their vehicle and manage their energy use,” Miller says.

Even though EV technology hasn’t been perfected, cities and states have actively begun to prepare for the arrival of electric vehicles. Last summer, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. $100 million to deploy over 10,000 charging stations in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Tennessee. Pike Research forecasts that charging stations where drivers can plug in and recharge their vehicles will be available at more than 5. 3 million locations around the globe by 2015.

The firm estimates that the combined market for elec-
trified vehicles will represent a small ( 2. 5 percent) por-
tion of the total vehicle market in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, plans by companies both big and small are
coming to fruition. In addition to Toyota and Tesla
Motors, several companies are in hot pursuit of market
share in the space. Ford will offer the electric Transit
Connect commercial van in 2010, followed by the Focus
Electric in 2011. In 2012, they aim to deliver two more
hybrids. General Motors Corp. has plans to build its

MARTINSVILLE
HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA

MARTINSVILLE
HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA
speed to market speed to market

Need a location central to the East Coast to manufacture and/or distribute your product? Then look to Martinsville-Henry County, Virginia. With nearly 60% of the US population within a day’s drive and a workforce of over 800,000 within a 50-mile radius, Martinsville-Henry County is ready to help you get to work!

Located 50 miles south of Roanoke, VA and 50 miles north of Greensboro, NC along Hwy 220

Interstates 77, 85, 40 and 81 are within 50 miles and are accessible by 4-lane connectors

2/3 of the business community is within a day’s drive from our location Plenty of available warehousing space, office space, industrial buildings and land

Phone: 276.403.5940 | Fax: 276.403.5941 | www.yesmartinsville.com

Chevrolet Volt extended range EV at the company’s Detroit-Hamtramck factory. Nissan Motor Co. has launched the Leaf, which will be commercially produced in Smyrna, Tenn.

Norway-based Think Global will build its first car for the U.S. market in 2011, at an Elkhart County, Ind., assembly plant near their Indianapolis-based, lithium-ion battery supplier EnerDel. Fisker Automotive, will be introducing the Karma, a luxury plug-in hybrid EV later this year, while Coda Automotive is taking orders for an EV sedan around the same time. On the commercial vehicle side, Kansas City, Mo.-based, Smith Electric Vehicles is slated to receive $32 million in U.S. DOE grant funding to produce all-electric, zero emissions commercial trucks.

People And Places Undergo Retooling

All of this activity will require skilled labor, though the transition has not been without pain. In the United States, GM, Ford and Chrysler have laid off tens of thousands of workers in the last two years. To compensate, efforts such as Michigan’s No Worker Left Behind program have retrained 80,000 workers, though not all found jobs in the auto industry. The U.S. Department of Labor allocated $3.2 million this year for retraining of autoworkers displaced by cutbacks in the industry and preparing them for new technician careers in the emerging “green” industry. The St. Louis area will also utilize government funds to transition 1,200 sheet metal workers into clean energy construction, design and HVAC jobs.