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University of Michigan to launch $130M EV center in Ann Arbor

Engineering student Chloe Acosta plugs in an EV on the University of Michigan's North Campus. Acosta is also powertrain director on the MRacing team, which recently switched to an electric powertrain. Engineering student Chloe Acosta plugs in an EV on the University of Michigan's North Campus. Acosta is also powertrain director on the MRacing team, which recently switched to an electric powertrain. (Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan College of Engineering)

ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan has received $130 million from the state of Michigan to launch an electric vehicle center.

The new center will focus on cultivating a highly skilled workforce, accelerating research and development in the field and advance infrastructure and facilities on campus to support education and research, according to a U-M release.

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“This prudent investment from the state is going to be pivotal in ushering in a mobility future that is sustainable, safe, and equitable for Michigan workers, our communities, and the nation,” Dean of Engineering Alec D. Gallimore said in a statement. While the EV revolution is well underway, there’s an immense amount of work to do in order to meet—and then push beyond—the U.S. goal that half of new car sales be electric by 2030.

“We need to address areas like the workforce, cost, vehicle range, charging infrastructure and sustainability. Our center will build on more than a century of U-M leadership in transportation to tackle these and other critical areas.”

Gallimore has appointed Alan Taub to lead the center. Taub, an engineering professor at U-M, was formerly an executive in the auto industry. He also has extensive experience launching public-private partnerships, including the Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow -- a $148 million Manufacturing USA Institute in Detroit.

Taub will soon create an industry advisory board to set the center’s R&D priorities and workforce development strategies.

“We’re undergoing a redefinition of personal mobility in a way we haven’t seen in a century,” Taub said in a statement. “It requires changes to the vehicles, the infrastructure, consumer behavior, policy and more. We need academia, industry and government to work together to enable a smooth transition.

“Southeast Michigan drove the evolution of mobility from the horse and carriage to affordable automobiles 100 years ago. We have what it takes to do it again, but the stakes are as tremendous as the opportunity.”

The new initiative hopes to reach more than 1,200 students in its network each year from U-M and other Michigan institutions.

Battery manufacturing and engineering will be an early focus at the center. Currently, U-M offers more than 20 undergraduate and graduate courses on battery manufacturing and management, materials, grid power systems and EV electrical components.

Research and development through public-private partnerships will aim to test and develop innovative EV technology. It will collaborate with existing U-M mobility and manufacturing initiatives, including Mcity, U-M Transportation Research Institute, the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on solid-state battery technology and the Global CO2 Initiative and the School for Environment and Sustainability.