A Detroit electric vehicle maker that builds custom vans for commercial fleets has just opened a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Southwest Detroit, adding jobs and production capacity after nearly relocating to Austin, Texas. Grounded, founded by former SpaceX engineer Sam Shapiro, cut the ribbon on its new plant at 4617 W. Fort St. on Tuesday, with Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield on hand for the grand opening.
The company says it plans to add 56 jobs over the next two and a half years, with 21 new positions coming in 2027 and 35 more in 2028, according to MLive. The new facility, previously operated by automotive seating supplier Bridgewater Interiors LLC, replaces a smaller Michigan Central-owned industrial space Grounded had outgrown, per the same report, and the shift has already increased production capacity by 1,900 percent.
Grounded’s decision to stay came close to going the other way. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation says the company came close to relocating to Austin before DEGC helped it find the larger Fort Street site, a move the agency frames as reinforcing Detroit’s effort to keep home-grown mobility startups from migrating to Texas or Silicon Valley.
From a Pandemic Van Conversion to a SpaceX-Trained Founder’s Startup
Shapiro’s path to Grounded began with a converted Chevy Express van during the 2020 pandemic, after a stint as a senior software engineer writing embedded software for SpaceX’s Starlink hardware, according to Tech Brew. He launched the company in 2022 after running into engine and power limitations on a six-month road trip in a traditional gas campervan, the outlet reports…