Volvo awarded $208 million to upgrade facilities, including in Dublin

The Volvo Group has been awarded a $208 million federal grant for upgrades at its Dublin manufacturing plant as well as facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania, officials announced Thursday.

The 2.3 million-square-foot New River Valley plant on 566 acres in Pulaski County employs about 3,600 people. It makes trucks that include the Volvo VNR Electric , which, along with Mack Trucks’ Mack LR Electric made in Pennsylvania, is one of two heavy-duty electric vehicles that the Volvo Group manufactures in North America.

The U.S. Department of Energy grant will help Volvo upgrade its facilities to more efficiently produce those vehicles and eventually expand its range of electric models. It’s part of a $1.7 billion package of grants to boost electric vehicle manufacturing slated for 11 facilities across eight states.

“We’re very pleased to be part of this Department of Energy program, which supports the Volvo Group’s efforts to drive the shift toward a decarbonized transportation system,” Stephen Roy, chairman of Volvo Group North America and president of Mack Trucks, said in a statement. “Through facility upgrades and employee training, this grant will help our U.S. plants more efficiently produce the innovative trucks and zero-emission powertrain components essential to this transition.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, told reporters on a conference call Thursday that the federal grant will be matched by private money for a total investment of $416 million across the three Volvo facilities.

“If you wonder about American manufacturing, if you wonder about American innovation, hey, can I tour you through the Volvo plant in Appalachia?” said Kaine, who visited the Dublin plant last year and took an electric truck for a test drive. “This is a plant that would be state of the art anywhere in the world, and the fact that it’s in Appalachian Virginia is a great thing for the commonwealth and particularly for the great Southwest.”

In a May letter to the DOE supporting Volvo’s grant application, Kaine and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said the grant would help convert manufacturing processes at Volvo’s Dublin and Pennsylvania plants so those facilities can produce more electric trucks on their main diesel assembly lines. The money would also support the production of battery packs and other components at the company’s plant in Maryland.

The Department of Energy said in a news release Thursday that the investments through its Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, will “create and retain thousands of good-paying union jobs and support the American auto communities that have driven the U.S. economy for generations.”

The DOE said that the grant will help Volvo sustain 7,900 existing jobs and add 295 jobs across the three facilities; a Volvo Group spokesperson said it’s too early to tell how many new jobs will be in Dublin or how much of the federal money will be used there.

Besides the Volvo plants in Dublin; Hagerstown, Maryland; and Macungie, Pennsylvania, the Department of Energy selected grant awardees in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and York, Pennsylvania. Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Harley-Davidson were among the other companies chosen.

The DOE said that the grants are contingent upon a negotiation process that includes the companies meeting certain criteria such as undergoing environmental reviews and ensuring that “commitments to workers and communities are met.” If all awards are finalized, the DOE said the projects would “create over 2,900 new high-quality jobs and help ensure over 15,000 highly skilled union workers are retained.”

“Even as our competitors invest heavily in electric vehicles, these grants ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive — and does it in the communities and with the workforce that have supported the auto industry for generations,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the DOE news release.

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