8/5/21 - Jennifer Granholm back in Michigan for the day

Former Governor Jennifer Granholm was in Michigan Thursday for the first time since becoming Secretary of Energy in the Biden Administration.

(Mlive) - Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm returned to Michigan with a new job title on Thursday, Aug. 5, as she toured auto supplier facilities as President Joe Biden’s secretary of energy.

Granholm had four Michigan stops on her schedule Thursday, including a tour of the Magna Electronics in Holly. The timing of her visit was intentional – Biden announced Thursday his new target of getting 50% of all new vehicles to be electric by 2030, and the Big Three automakers pledged their support.

Granholm wants the supplies to be made in Michigan.

“The United States need not rely on other countries – potentially adversaries – for the supplies to make the electric vehicle,” Granholm said. “We want to make the batteries here. We want to make the chips here. We want to make the vehicles here. We want to make the whole thing, soup to nuts.”

On the Magna tour, Granholm learned about how the company makes lidar sensors for automakers like BMW. Lasers can detect when an object is near a vehicle, and it’s used for lane changing assistance and collision avoidance technology.

Ultimately, lidar will play a large role in self-driving vehicles – meaning Magna is in a position to grow.

The Ontario-based company had a facility in Holly when Granholm was governor, but only had 250 employees, she said. It’s now at 500 workers and 25,000 employees across the U.S.

Magna also makes back-up cameras for vehicles. Some newer vehicles use four or five cameras to give drivers a full picture of the surroundings – and Magna makes millions of such cameras per year. The company also makes front-facing cameras.

The semiconductor chip shortage is also a concern, Granholm said. Such chips are needed in vehicles to power everything from windshield wipers to engines. Many automakers have slowed production because of the short supply of chips.

In the short term, Biden is working with allied countries to get more chips to the U.S., Granholm said.

“Right now, the president and the Big Three and private sector are in negotiations with other allied countries, with suppliers to make sure that we are able to get the level of chips that we need,” she said. “It’s going to be hard, though. This is exactly why the president really wants to focus on building up supply chains here, so that we are not reliant on others for our own independence.”

Long term, the administration wants to invest $50 billion into semiconductor fabrication in the U.S.

Magna could double or triple its production if it had enough semiconductor chips, a company spokesperson said.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, also toured Magna with Granholm.

“The best thing about it is, Michigan stands to benefit profoundly as we convert to a 50% electric fleet,” Slotkin said. “As we move ahead toward looking at autonomous vehicles, we want to design them here, we want to make them here. That is the goal. Not to have someone else in China or France do it.”

Granholm’s later stops included a roundtable to talk about supply chains, and two other Detroit-area automotive factory tours.