U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, right, chats with Ivy Tech Kokomo chancellor Ethan Heicher during a tour of the college Friday.
Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune
KOKOMO — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said it’s no longer fair to characterize Indiana and other Midwestern states as the Rust Belt.
Instead, the region is quickly turning into what he called the Battery Belt.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Kokomo with the construction of two state-of-the-art lithiumion battery facilities. The StarPlus Energy plants represent a $5.7 billion investment by Stellantis and Samsung SDI.
Buttigieg said the facilities also represent the biggest change to hit the automotive industry since Kokomo inventor Elwood Haynes in 1894 tested one of the nation’s first cars on Pumpkin Vine Pike on the city’s southside.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the moment that we’re in and the turnaround a place like Howard County, Indiana, has seen, the future that is in front of us and the innovation we have to come,” he said.
The transportation secretary and former South Bend mayor toured the construction site of the Kokomo battery facility Friday as part of a trip around the Midwest touting the nearly $500 billion invested so far from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Law.
He also highlighted other investments approved under President Joe Biden, including nearly $250 million that could go to a Stellantis Kokomo transmission plant to support the production of electronic drive modules as the facilities transition to electric vehicles.
Buttigieg’s visit also included tours of Stellantis’ Kokomo Engine Plant and Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo, where he held a press conference.
The visit comes as speculation swirls whether Vice President Kamala Harris might pick Buttigieg as her own vice president as she campaigns as the presumed Democratic candidate who will face off against former President Donald Trump.
News outlets speculated a lastminute change to Buttigieg’s schedule, in which he canceled a roundtable with Indiana mayors to talk about road safety, may be tied to Harris’ vice president decision.
Buttigieg told media Friday the schedule change was routine. Federal law prohibited Buttigieg from speaking about campaigns and elections.
“Every day we have to tweak the schedule because things come up — calls or meetings — and we have to prepare,” he said.
Politics didn’t stay completely out of Buttigieg’s comments Friday. He said under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. has created 800,000 manufacturing jobs that, he argued, have pulled the U.S. out of a manufacturing recession that occurred during Trump’s administration.
He also challenged the view that electric vehicles are somehow part of an “invented culture war between red and blue America.”
“Electric vehicles are going to be remembered … as a front in a very real global competition between the U.S. and countries like China for the future of manufacturing,” Buttigieg said.
He argued the U.S. will stay competitive through the kinds of projects and investments happening in Kokomo, where the battery plants and Stellantis facilities are creating “green collar” jobs that keep EV manufacturing in the U.S.
“I know that the workers and students here take pride in knowing that they are helping America win that role,” he said. “The jobs that will be created in these facilities aren’t just making batteries. They are making livelihoods.”
That’s already happening through the construction of the new battery plants, said John Hollingsworth, superintendent of Huston Electric and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 873.
His company has worked on the battery plant for the last 17 months. In that time, membership of the local union has doubled, he said.
“The Kokomo battery plant has been a tremendous opportunity for our local contractors,” Hollingsworth said during the press conference. “With the projects happening here in Kokomo and around the country, there’s a lot of success ahead.”
StarPlus Energy CEO Yunjae Kim said production is almost ready to start at the first battery plant after “months of hard hard work, innovation and collaboration.” He said the plant will “create a successful story here in Kokomo, Indiana.”
Buttigieg joined Kim in applauding Ivy Tech Kokomo for its rapid adoption of classes and training that will prepare future workers from the region for specific jobs at the battery facilities.
“It’s extraordinary to see how this institution has adapted so quickly to all of the needs that are coming your way and how you’re preparing generations to succeed in this manufacturing renaissance,” Buttigieg said.
Ivy Tech Kokomo Chancellor Ethan Heicher noted in a separate interview that federal dollars have been critical in purchasing equipment and other technology needed to train students for battery plant jobs. He explained Samsung’s technician training team has visited the campus a number of times and Ivy Tech faculty and administrators have visited Samsung plants in Korea.
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