There is a fatal flaw. Wanting something is not enough. There are other States who would be much more well suited for these activities because of the skill base needed. There is more lithium ion knowledge outside the state of Michigan than in. When it comes to the federal funding, there should be no more basis of influence for Michigan than there should be for any other state. Obviously, the biggest potential customer in the state is willing to go to Asia for their supply.

GM obviously wants to treat the sourcing of lithium batteries just like they would rear view mirrors. They had no more right to do this than Dell had the right to control Intel in the same way. Unfortunately many of the developers of electric cars have relatively small knowledge about what it takes to get into lithium ion production.

Based on the new start-ups for creating electric cars, it seems apparent that creating the electric vehicle is more straight forward than making the batteries. Just like any companies could build their own computers, only a few could build the processors.

If success is only going to come from being vertically integrated, then Fisker, Phoenix Motorcars, or Telsa have just as much right for having the lithium ion facilities built in their state. Most likely even more right since making electric cars is their business where GM should be working on their core business of ICE.