Two Macomb County automotive plants are part of a major investment plan by Stellantis to expand electric vehicle production.

Stellantis announced on Wednesday it is investing more than $406 million in three Michigan facilities to support its multi-energy strategy and confirmed that the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will be the company’s first U.S. plant to build a fully electric vehicle.

The Ram 1500 REV, the Company’s first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck launching in late 2024, and the range-extended all-new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger will be built alongside internal combustion engine models in Sterling Heights.

Additional investments will be made to retool the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for production of a future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, and the Dundee Engine Plant for battery tray production and beam machining for the STLA Frame and STLA Large batteries.

“Sterling Heights Assembly has performed an incredible transformation in record time and I want to thank our colleagues for this great achievement,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. “Gearing up to build our first-ever Ram electric truck and the range-extended version in Michigan is a meaningful moment of pride for our teams.

“With these investments supporting both Jeep and Ram, we’re adding innovations to our Michigan manufacturing footprint to support a multi-energy approach that is laser-focused on customer demand.”

Last month, Stellantis announced it would lay off up to 2,450 workers at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant beginning in October due to production of the Ram Classic 1500 pickup coming to an end this year. Warren Truck Assembly will reduce shifts at the plant from two to one.

The Ram 1500 Classic is being replaced by the Ram 1500 Tradesman, which is slated to be built at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant.

With an investment of $235.5 million, the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will produce the company’s first-ever battery electric 2025 Ram 1500 REV light-duty truck. The Ram 1500 REV was unveiled at the 2023 New York Auto Show and will launch in late 2024. The plant will also build the all-new range-extended 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger.

Stellantis partnered with equipment suppliers and contractors to carefully plan and execute the installation of a new conveyor system, new automation for BEV-specific processes, and the retooling and rearrangement of workstations in general assembly to be able to produce ICE, BEV and range-extended models on the same assembly line.

Approximately $97.6 million will be invested at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for production of a future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, one of four Jeep EVs that will be launched globally by the brand before the end of 2025. Electrified models will be built on the same line as internal combustion engine versions of the Jeep Wagoneer and Wagoneer L as well as the Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L.

With an investment of more than $73 million, the Dundee Engine Plant will be retooled to assemble, weld and test battery trays for the STLA Frame architecture and to machine the front and rear beams for the STLA Large architecture. Production will begin in 2024 and 2026, respectively.

The former leader of police forces in Warren and Farmington Hills and current Farmington Hills City Councilman William Dwyer is back working with one of his former officers.

Dwyer and Associates has partnered with Fortis Group LLC, a premier security management firm whose CEO is Brian Bastianelli—a retired command officer from the Farmington Hills Police Department with 26 years of service.

“I am excited to start this new chapter of my life,” said Dwyer. “This partnership provides me the opportunity to continue to provide safety and security, which has been a lifelong mission for me.”

Dwyer, a 23-year veteran commander of the Detroit Police Department’s Narcotics Division, served as Police Chief of Farmington Hills for 23 years and most recently completed a nine-year tenure as Police Commissioner for the City of Warren.

Bastianelli said Dwyer brings “unparalleled experience and leadership” to the collaboration.

“Joining forces with Fortis Group will allow my experience, combined with their highly skilled professionals, to further this mission in new and impactful ways,” Dwyer said.

Fortis Group LLC, is a comprehensive security management firm. Specializing in training, consulting, private investigation, and high-level armed security services, Fortis Group serves both public and private sectors.

“Our company is thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Dwyer and Associates,” saidBastianelli. “I am personally excited to work again alongside my former Chief.

“This collaboration will enable us to offer a white-glove service that combines Dwyer’s vast experience with our ability to execute with precision.”

The grieving process is long and difficult and at some point after losing a loved one, most people come to that place where they just wish they could have one more conversation with their dearly departed.

Clinton Township Senior Center Assistant Director Debbie Travis believes the new wind phone, which was expected to be installed and available for use by Aug. 21, will help people through the grieving process by allowing them to speak their feelings.

“The idea fits in so well with our center and all of the things that we do,” said Travis. “It is a therapeutic way to process grief.

“Pick up this phone and your message is going to go wherever you want it to go.”

The project is a collaboration between Dignity Memorial, Lowe’s store 1716 in Clinton Township, and Senior Center officials. Lowe’s tagged the wind phone and recent improvements at the bocce courts as a Lowe’s Hometown Community Project. Dignity Memorial sponsored the purchase of the phone, the bench and plaques that are displayed in the pergola.

Resurrection Cemetery sponsors a grief support group that meets at the Senior Center and the idea for the wind phone evolved in part from that group.

Lowe’s built the 8×8 pergola with three slatted sides with the south side open and looking into the woods. There is a natural bench inside the pergola and the red, rotary dial wind phone itself is inside of a custom-built box that looks like a British phone booth.

A wood chip path leads from the sidewalk to the pergola, which will be nestled just west of the Center’s bocce courts.

Signage explains the purpose of the wind phone and how to use it.

“We want to create a very sacred place and a place where people can go to process their feelings,” said Travis. “There might be something you didn’t get a chance to say to that person, you might just want to tell them you miss them, or you might feel angry and want to tell them that too.”

The wind phone concept started in Japan where Itaru Sasaki created a “phone of the wind” in 2010 while grieving his cousin who died from cancer. He purchased an old fashioned phone booth and put it in his garden, then installed an obsolete rotary phone unconnected to any network.

Sasaki said the wind phone allowed him to heal and to feel close to his cousin who had passed.

“So the idea burst from someone’s grief,” said Travis. “He devised this grief therapy and it took off.”

The wind phone allows those who might be keeping their feelings inside a chance to express them and gain closure or simply recognize the possibility of intangible planes of existence.

Currently there are 186 wind phones in the United States; 87 international; and 15 “coming soon” including the location at the Clinton Township Senior Center.

The Clinton Township Board of Trustees approved the installation of the wind phone at its Aug. 12 meeting.

“When I first heard about this, I didn’t understand what it was,” said Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon. “But once I understood what it was, I liked it.”

Senior Committee member Fran Badalamente said this “hotline” to loved ones is welcome.

“This is a lovely idea and something that will add to our center and be very helpful for people who are going through the grief process,” Badalamente said. “They can feel they can communicate in way that is personalized to them”

Trustee Julie Matuzak noted the wind phone is a much more environmentally friendly way to communicate with a lost loved one than letting off balloons or fire lanterns.

“Those are really bad for the environment,” said Matuzak. “Animals ingest the balloons and wires get tangled in farmland so this is the same concept but more personal because you are talking on the phone and at the same time more environmentally friendly.”