Warning of China threat, Trump and Michigan Republicans bash EV battery plant

• Proposed battery component factory by U.S. division of Chinese EV battery maker Gotion draws scorn, support in rural Michigan
• Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers rallied with opponents of the project, state GOP leaders and vowed to stop it
• Supporters argue there’s economic benefits for Mecosta County, including the promise of 2,350 jobs

GREEN CHARTER TOWNSHIP, MI — On one side of a rural Michigan highway, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers and other Republicans on Wednesday vowed to stop a proposed electric vehicle battery plant they call a symbol of ill-conceived economic incentives and Chinese government threats.

On the other side, supporters of the project — backed by Gotion, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Chinese company Gotion High-Tech — heralded the proposed $2.36 billion investment that promises 2,350 jobs and the chance to make Michigan a leader in EV technology.

The proposed Gotion plant has long divided Green Charter Township, a rural community just north of Big Rapids. Now, Republicans opposed to the project are hoping it will continue to motivate voters this fall.  

“We are not going to take a Chinese company with Chinese interests taking American jobs in our community today,” Rogers, a former member of Congress now running for U.S. Senate, told a crowd at the Majestic Friesians Horse Farm, whose owner Lori Brock has led local anti-Gotion efforts.

Rogers accused his general election opponent, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and other Democrats of threatening national security and wasting taxpayer money by supporting the project. 

Related:

• Gotion scores court win in battle to build battery plant in Green Township
• Where mega battery, EV projects stand after $1 billion in Michigan subsidies

Donald Trump, the former president who is again the Republican nominee, also came out against the project this week, suggesting it would "put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing."

Gotion officials and supporters contend the project is not universally abhorred, arguing that the “silent majority” wants to see the project go through. 

“The future is electric cars and alternative energy forms,” Karen Turnbull, chair of the Mecosta County Democratic Party, said Wednesday at the pro-Gotion gathering. “It's a great opportunity for our community.”

A spokesperson for Slotkin disputed Rogers’ claims about her record, pointing to her work in congress to combat Chinese influence in critical supply chains, automotive interests and other industries like agriculture and real estate. 

“As a national security expert, Rep. Slotkin has dedicated her career to protecting the U.S. from foreign threats,” spokesperson Antoine Givens said in a statement.

Project turned political flashpoint 

The Gotion project was first announced in 2022 with great fanfare by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as part of what she called an aggressive effort to attract EV investment to the state.

But voters here have revolted. 

Last year, they ousted the five remaining township board members who had signed off on the project and replaced them with anti-Gotion candidates, who have thus far been unsuccessful in stopping the project from moving forward.

As proposed, the Green Township plant would be an EV component factory. Those components would then be shipped to a planned factory in Illinois for assembly.

The Gotion plant is one of five EV or battery projects that Michigan has pledged a combined $1 billion to facilitate since 2022. As Bridge Michigan reported in June, those projects have so far created a combined 200 jobs.

In exchange for $175 million in state subsidies and 30 years of tax breaks, Gotion has publicly committed to hiring 2,350 people and invest nearly $2.4 billion in the region. Construction on the Michigan factory has not started, though environmental, clearing and surveying work has been in progress this spring. 

Critics have been wary of potential environmental impacts, the hefty sums promised to the company through tax breaks and direct incentives and Gotion’s ties to China. Gotion High-Tech Inc. was founded in China in 2006, and its U.S. subsidiary Gotion, Inc. was founded in 2014 in California. 

In addition to those concerns, Rogers — along with Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra and other Republicans — have made a point to criticize the less-than-transparent nature under which the Gotion project and other economic development deals were made. 

Dozens of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle previously signed confidentiality agreements on proposed economic development projects with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, including Slotkin, though the non-disclosure agreement she signed did not specifically reference Gotion.

Givens, Slotkin’s campaign spokesperson, said Slotkin “never signed any agreement related to the Gotion project or the Chinese government” and said any insinuation to the contrary was a “completely false attack.” 

Rogers told reporters that he never signed a confidentiality agreement while serving as an elected official and didn’t believe it was appropriate to do so. 

“You're a public official — by the very definition, you're supposed to be transparent,” Rogers said Wednesday. “It keeps people in the dark on purpose for something that looks very nefarious to me.”

Where the project stands

Despite the high-profile opposition, Chuck Thelen, Gotion’s vice president of manufacturing in North America, said the company is moving full steam ahead with an eye towards beginning the factory build. 

Gotion and the Green Charter Township board are currently locked in a legal battle, with the company alleging in federal court that the township board is violating development agreements. 

So far, Gotion is winning that fight. Earlier this month, a federal judge upheld an injunction that prohibits township officials from interfering with the development agreement Gotion signed with the previous board. The company currently expects to open the factory in 2026.

“I'm sure they're doing what they think is right,” Thelen said of the project’s critics. “We believe that we are right…we are celebrating jobs, we're celebrating sustainable energy, we're celebrating the future of Mecosta County.”

Hoekstra and Rogers told reporters they and local activists won’t stop trying, alluding to the possibility of future court battles and federal actions that could make building the plant more difficult, including requiring special visas for international employees who work at the facility.

“If the township doesn’t want you, if the county doesn’t want you, if the locals don’t want you, why are you going to build?” Hoekstra said. “I’ll be very surprised if there’s ever a plant here.”

In one respect, both sides could agree: the project has driven a deep wedge in the community.

“I’ve never seen something that divides a community like this…in a way that is not good for America,” Rogers said. 

Thelen said he’s confident that “the people that are financially minded and economically minded understand the importance” of the project.

“We're here to tell everybody, listen, this is a positive thing,” he said, standing across the road from a group bent on derailing his company’s plans. “We want to help the community start to heal.”