Big news for a small city near me.

[stevej37]

Big Rapids, MI is about a half hour drive from me. Home of Ferris State University and a population of 7700.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/10/05/global-tech-company-investing-236b-into-ev-battery-plant-in-big-rapids/

Gotion, an EV battery producer, is going to build a plant that will employ 2350 workers.
Great news for their city.

[Bill Douglas]

Excellent. That will charge up the local economy.

[stevej37]

^^^ Yes it will. Adding 2350 jobs to a 7700 population city is a real game changer.

It's a sleepy, conservative city along the scenic Muskegon River....very happy for them.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Big Rapids, MI is about a half hour drive from me. Home of Ferris State University and a population of 7700.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/10/05/global-tech-company-investing-236b-into-ev-battery-plant-in-big-rapids/

Gotion, an EV battery producer, is going to build a plant that will employ 2350 workers.
Great news for their city.

Industry in MI will rise again - my family helped establish Grand Rapids (there's a park on a big hill in downtown GR with my Gt Grandma's last name on it) and their kids had grey iron and brass foundries in town. Your parents/grandparents' armaments in WW2 might have been made with stuff from a pattern shop full of more of the fam's woodworking equipment (still sought after today as "even highschool-student-proof") and this morning's bread and bagels might have been sliced on yet another offshoot.

Resourceful and capable people, all the water you need, good(ish) transportation and more. Truly I think Detroit has an even larger upside for more of the same reasons. It's not just dumb luck that 100y ago DET was neck-and-neck with Chi for the second most prosperous city in the country.

I'm a fan, even if I didn't really enjoy living there (do like a visit though). I could see retiring to north/central MI - as long as you're not in sight of the big lakes it's quite affordable and sustainable, unlike most everywhere near our current desert southwest home.

[stevej37]

^^^ Nice comment.
My family came from Germany and Holland and settled into the north/central MI area.
A hard working group of people. (plus no crime)

I love it here.

[Sooner or later]

Big Rapids will have big rapid growth.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Big Rapids will have big rapid growth.

My Colorado-born wife thinks it's hilarious that I was born in Grand Rapids (yet not really rapids - maybe a weir or two and a fish ladder) and now live next to the Rio Grande in NM (at this spot smaller than the MI Grand River).

By the way, there's a reason it's only "big" rapids and not "grand" up there - as nice as they are.

Anyway, good to see some development happening...

[911 Rod]

Were they big before the auto industry pulled out?

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

My Colorado-born wife thinks it's hilarious that I was born in Grand Rapids (yet not really rapids - maybe a weir or two and a fish ladder) and now live next to the Rio Grande in NM (at this spot smaller than the MI Grand River).

By the way, there's a reason it's only "big" rapids and not "grand" up there - as nice as they are.

Anyway, good to see some development happening...

There is a 10? year project started a few years back to 'restore the rapids' in GR
They are removing all the dams, fish ladders and placing large rocks to return it to the original rapids.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Were they big before the auto industry pulled out?

Both Big Rapids and Grand Rapids are in West Michigan. Detroit is on the east side.

[stevej37]

According to my recent C&D mag...each full size EV takes about 400 lbs of raw lithium to produce it's battery pack.
Australia is the world's largest producer of lithium.

[IROC]

That's great news for that area. I was born in Battle Creek, but only lived there for 5 years before we moved. My Dad was born in Kalamazoo.

I just got back last night from a review at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State (https://frib.msu.edu/). I am on their Target Advisory Committee. My 5th trip to that facility... The weather was awesome.

[stevej37]

The only thing that concerns me is...where are the 2350 workers going to come from?

Being in a mostly forest and agricultural area...there are no large numbers of job-seekers. Big Rapids population is mostly for college support. The next closest city larger than them is Grand Rapids...about 60 miles away.

I'm sure they researched that question thoroughly.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I'm sure they researched that question thoroughly.

And GR seems to have gone deep into the medical-industrial-complex. Dunno how that meshes with EV-stuff but much of everything is paper, and at least paper pushers are fungible.

I hope it works well for them up there though. We need those goods, and we need those jobs.

[stevej37]

I clipped this from the Detroit News....

"The investment follows parallel confirmation that Gotion Inc., a Chinese-owned battery maker, plans to invest $2.3 billion to build a battery components plant in Big Rapids that would create 2,350 new jobs with an average hourly wage of nearly $30 an hour."

That is a huge wage for the area that it will be built in.

[Sooner or later]

They will find workers.

Goodyear had a plant in Union City, Tennessee that employed over 3000. Town population was 10,000. County population was about 30,000. Employees came from every city around. Some as far away as SW Kentucky. When I was there I lived in Martin, a college town with a population of 10,000.