A China-linked electric vehicle battery manufacturer is suing a small Michigan township, accusing officials there of trying to “unravel” its plans to build a $2.36 billion battery plant.
Gotion on Friday filed the lawsuit against newly elected members of Green Charter Township in federal court for backtracking on a plan that their predecessors approved last year to support the proposed project.
Township leaders made the about-face after a recall late last year ousted five board members over their support for Gotion’s construction of a battery component manufacturing site and industrial park in Mecosta County. Two other board members last year resigned from their posts amid the controversy, which centered on the company’s ties to China.
Now, lawyers for Gotion, a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Chinese battery company Gotion High Tech, say the newly elected members of the township board are “motivated by clear anti-Gotion animus” and in breach of contract.
