An economic package, which gives tax credits to incentivize electric vehicle and parts production and training in Illinois, has yielded few results, to the point Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign legislation that will expand tax credits.
, was supposed to be huge for Illinois., the acting director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Sylvia Garcia called it a “gamechanger” and sponsoring state Rep. Dave Vella, D-Rockford, said it “could turn Illinois into the Silicon Valley of electric vehicle manufacturing.”“With this bill, we intend to attract more EV manufacturers, charging station manufacturers and automotive parts manufacturers. More than ever before.
Rivian’s Bloomington-Normal plant makes electric trucks and Amazon delivery vans. Lion Electric in Joliet makes school buses. Weigel Tool Works makes bus bars for vehicles, he said. Building an electric vehicle is a lot different than building an internal combustion engine, Denzler said. On that front, he said Illinois has other advantages, with the University of Illinois’ engineering program, plus Argonne and Fermilab.
“We’ve certainly lost some plants to other states, where they’ve chosen to locate in another state. They have not closed down in Illinois,” Denzler said. “But certainly there are challenges we have here … things like property taxes and workers compensation.”He's hoping the, approved by legislators during their recent veto session will help Illinois to jump on those opportunities.
“Our industry has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market," the company said in a statement.Still, the company says the plant is not closing but is “working to identify other opportunities to repurpose the Belvidere facility and has no additional details to share at this time.
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