General Motors Corp (GM) broke ground round this week on a new electric motor manufacturing plant in White Marsh, Maryland, expected to employ 190 workers and be ready for production in 2013. Construction begins in July on the $246 million facility, the first electric motor plant run by a major automaker in the United States.

Anticipated need for ramped-up production of economical electric and hybrid vehicles in the near future prompted the project's development. The Detroit-based automaker (the second-largest after Toyota), has said that hybrids and other advanced technologies are key to its future.

Sizable federal, state and Baltimore County subsidies are helping the automaker build the new plant according to a story by The Baltimore Sun. GM's investment is nearly $129 million; while the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $105 million, the county is providing $6 million in grant monies, and the state is providing $4.5 million in grants for job training help and economic development.

The new "next-generation" electric motor facility will be located next store to GM's existing White Marsh plant whose 206 employees have been producing award-winning transmissions for a decade.