On July 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected projects for $1.7 billion in funding to convert 11 shuttered or at-risk auto manufacturing facilities across eight states. The selections were intended to help those facilities produce electrified vehicles and components in the United States. They were not proof that every grant had been finalized or that the money had already been paid.
What the $1.7 billion announcement means
The funding came through a federal program created by Section 50143 of the Inflation Reduction Act. DOE’s funding opportunity, DE-FOA-0003106, sought applications to convert U.S. manufacturing facilities and expand domestic production of electrified vehicles, components and materials. Applications were due in 2023 and January 2024, so this was a completed grant-selection round, not an open consumer rebate.
DOE described the selected funding as cost-shared. The agency’s Alternative Fuels Data Center says the program requires at least a 50% non-federal cost share, but cautions that its program information may be outdated. That general rule does not establish any individual company’s final negotiated share; project award documents are needed for that.
DOE said the selected projects would negotiate for awards. Selection is an announcement of chosen projects, not the same as a negotiated and executed grant, an obligation or disbursement of funds, or a completed factory conversion. The agency’s July 11, 2024 announcement therefore should not be read as evidence that all $1.7 billion had already reached the companies.
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Which states and kinds of facilities were included?
The 11 selected facilities were located in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia. DOE’s announcement describes a mix of auto manufacturing and assembly facilities that were shuttered or at risk; it does not mean every site was already producing cars or would build complete passenger EVs.
The portfolio covered a wider electrified-vehicle supply chain than the headline phrase “build EVs” might suggest. DOE listed electric motorcycles, school buses, hybrid powertrains, batteries for heavy-duty commercial trucks and electric SUVs among the planned products. Some facilities were to make vehicles; others were to make components or related products.
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What job numbers did DOE project?
DOE’s 2024 fall progress update projected more than 2,900 new jobs and retention of more than 15,000 union workers across the 11 conversions. These are agency projections, not an audited count of jobs ultimately created or retained.
The same DOE progress update said American Autoparts in Toledo had launched a project by fall 2024. The project anticipated a total investment of $65 million and 223 new jobs, including 192 upskilled jobs in electrified manufacturing. That example documents progress at one selected project; it does not establish the status or eventual employment results of all 11.
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What is known about the awards now?
DOE-wide grant figures offer context, but not a facility-by-facility update. In a September 17, 2026 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office summarized DOE data from its review of Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act awards. DOE reported that, as of April 2026, it had approved 381 awards totaling $19.6 billion to continue and canceled 155 awards totaling $9.1 billion. Recipients were appealing 93 canceled awards worth $6.9 billion, and DOE had reinstated 12 canceled awards worth $0.9 billion by that date.
Those totals span DOE’s reviewed portfolios and do not show whether any of the 11 auto-conversion projects was continued, modified, canceled, reinstated or paid. The cited GAO report does not provide project-by-project status for this group. A selection, final award, payment, construction, hiring and production are distinct stages; the 2024 announcement alone cannot establish later outcomes.
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Why the administration supported the conversions
The Biden administration presented the program as a way to strengthen U.S. automotive manufacturing while helping workers and communities transition to electrified vehicle production. Then-Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said the grants were intended to help the auto industry remain competitive and sustain manufacturing in communities with longstanding auto-industry workforces. John Podesta, then a senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, described the awards as an investment in auto-industry jobs and lower transportation pollution. These were statements of the administration’s rationale, not independent findings about results.
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