“I think electric vehicles could soon become the second largest employer.”

The manufacturing industry in the Midwest is reviving thanks to investment in new factories – this time using green energy.

Private companies have invested nearly $30 billion in clean energy projects in Midwestern states, according to Inside Climate News. Michigan received $11.6 billion, Indiana $7.8 billion and Ohio $7 billion.

Driving these investments is the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act by Congress in August 2022, providing tax credits for clean energy projects and purchases.

E2’s advisory team analyzed these investments and found that Michigan has outpaced Texas and Georgia in financing clean energy projects. Indiana also outperforms Texas, Inside Climate News reports.

E2 Chief Communications Officer Michael Timberlake told the outlet, “It’s like a new era in American manufacturing moving to clean energy.”

He noted that this is not surprising because Midwestern states also drove the last era of manufacturing.

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Detroit and Cleveland were major centers of the auto and steel industries until jobs began to be moved overseas and automated in the 1980s and 1990s. The Midwestern states were even dubbed America’s Rust Belt in the 1970s due to the decline in manufacturing jobs in the area.

It is no coincidence that companies have chosen these states for investment because they are already industry-friendly areas.

Electric vehicles are a big part of those clean energy investments. Toyota is expanding electric vehicle production in Princeton, Indiana, with a $1.4 billion investment. Additionally, LG and Honda are building a joint electric vehicle battery plant in Jeffersonville, Ohio, with a $4.4 billion investment, Inside Climate News reported, citing Reuters and a Honda press release.

It is expected that 340 new jobs will be created at the Toyota plant and 2,220 at the LG and Honda plants.

“I think electric vehicles could soon become the second-largest employer in the U.S. when it comes to clean energy jobs,” Timberlake told ICN.

The demand for electric vehicles continues to grow. In 2023, the U.S. reached a milestone of selling more than one million battery-powered electric vehicles.

The Biden administration has set a goal for half of all cars sold to be electric by 2030, according to a White House press release. To achieve that goal, more manufacturing plants are needed.

The switch to electric vehicles is also crucial to reducing emissions of polluting gases. According to Carbon Brief, electric vehicles produce “significantly” less toxic gases than combustion engine cars. In addition, switching the electricity grid to cheaper energy sources will further reduce emissions of polluting gases.

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