LG Energy Solutions will build a third joint plant for electric vehicle batteries with General Motors (GM), the No. 1 carmaker in the United States. When the third plant is built, the two companies will have an annual production capacity of 120GWh or more.
The two companies held an investment announcement event in Lansing, Michigan, USA on the 25th (local time) and announced plans to establish a third joint plant of Ultium Cells, a joint venture. The total investment is 3 trillion won (2.6 billion dollars) and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024.
LG Energy Solution CEO Kwon Young-soo, Vice Chairman, said, “The 3rd joint factory of Ultium Cells, located at the heart of the American automobile industry, will serve as a gateway to the birth of millions of electric vehicles in the future. Together with GM, we will contribute to the transition to the electric vehicle era in the US.”
GM Chairman Mary Barra said, “This new plant is a very meaningful step for GM, which aims to become the No. 1 electric vehicle market in North America by 2025. “We will invest more than $7 billion,” he said.
LG Energy Solutions-GM joint venture Ultium Cells 3rd plant will start construction this year. It will start mass production in the first phase in early 2025 and will be expanded to a plant with an annual production capacity of 50GWh in the future. This is an amount that can produce about 700,000 high-performance pure electric vehicles that can travel more than 500 km on a single charge.
Through this investment announcement, LG Energy Solutions and GM will be able to additionally secure large-scale electric vehicle battery production capacity in the United States.
Currently, Ultium Cells is building the first plant (35GWh+α) in Ohio and the second plant (35GWh+α) in Tennessee. The first plant will start mass production this year and the second plant next year. The two companies plan to expand the production capacity of the two plants in stages, with the goal of securing an annual production capacity of 120GWh or more, including the third plant.
The two companies plan to build the new Ultium Cells factory as an intelligent manufacturing factory that applies cutting-edge smart factory technology.
Previously, LG Energy Solution signed an MOU with Siemens, a global smart factory technology leader, Germany to establish manufacturing intelligence, and decided to apply Siemens-related technology to the new plant. It plans to mass-produce high-efficiency and high-quality products by preparing an information and communication technology (ICT)-based real-time monitoring system in the entire process of battery production.
LG Energy Solution said, “Ultium Cells will be positioned as a world-class battery production plant by combining GM’s long-term operational know-how in the North American market with LG Energy Solution’s battery R&D and cutting-edge production capabilities. “He said.
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With this investment decision, LG Energy Solution’s entry into the North American electric vehicle market is expected to accelerate. Previously, LG Energy Solutions decided to establish a joint venture for electric vehicle batteries with an annual capacity of 40GWh with Stellantis, the three largest automakers in North America, in addition to a battery production plant located in Michigan. The candidate site is currently under review, and construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year and production in the first quarter of 2024.
In addition, LG Energy Solutions plans to make additional investments in North America and plans to secure more than 40GWh of its own plant alone. If all joint ventures and sole investment with North American customers are combined, LG Energy Solution’s production capacity in North America is expected to reach 200GWh.
