Auburn Hills will be home of the new 'Flo Ultra' EV charger
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A Canadian-based electric vehicle charging company, FLO, that opened its first US facility in Auburn Hills is now rolling out a new charger that will help power future EVs on the road and create new jobs in Michigan.
Just in the last 10 years, the production of electric vehicles has skyrocketed from 22,000 in 2013 to more than two million today.
With more EVs hitting the road, there's the need for more chargers, and Flo says now is the time to make that investment.
"We need to make sure that we give drivers the confidence in this infrastructure that they can really rely on," Chris Thorson, FLO's chief marketing officer, said Wednesday.
To do that, FLO wants to deploy 250,000 EV chargers across America by 2028.
One of their new models, "FLO ultra" will be made at their Auburn Hills facility.
The dual charger promises to deliver what they call the "ultimate fast charging experience," powering EVs from zero to 80% in about 15 minutes.
"We're going to continue to increase capacity with additional people and the lean principles and making everything better here," said David Barrett, FLO's Director of Operations.
On Wednesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer got an up-close look at what it takes to build one.
Whitmer has carved out $65 million in the upcoming budget to help families and communities install EV chargers and is proposing a sales tax cut of up to $2,400 with the purchase of an electric vehicle.
"This transition has been happening over a long period of time, but it really moves faster and faster, every day, every year that goes by," Governor Whitmer told reporters.
With a big push toward electric vehicles, some Michiganders are wondering if the current power grid is adequate to handle the influx of EV users, so CBS News Detroit took that question to Governor Whitmer:
"This show tells us one more reason why it's really critical that we've got a lot of different ways of getting affordable, reliable energy sources, and that means windmills to solar to building up the grid that is underneath the ground and updating it and getting wires out of the sky and under the ground," she said.
In the meantime, FLO's presence in Auburn Hills is expected to boost Michigan's economy by about $76 million over the next five years.
The facility is growing fast. Right now, they have 15 people. At the end of the year, it'll be 130, and they're still looking to hire at competitive wages.
