LG Energy Solution (LGES) Advanced Automotive Battery Division head Kim Dong-myung, left, and General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra pose at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Tuesday (local time), during a ceremony to announce their companies' joint venture plan to build a battery cell plant in the city. Courtesy of LGES

Korean battery maker seeks additional investments in North America

By Park Jae-hyuk

LG Energy Solution (LGES) and General Motors held a ceremony in Michigan, Tuesday (local time), to officially announce their joint venture plan to invest $2.6 billion in the construction of an electric vehicle (EV) battery cell plant in the city of Lansing in the Midwestern state.

The announcement was made only a day before the Korean battery maker's debut on the benchmark KOSPI market, which attracted a record-high 114 trillion won ($95 billion) in a two-day public subscription period last week.

Founded in 2019, the joint venture named Ultium Cells will start building its third factory this summer and it will be open in late 2024. The 2.8 million-square-foot facility will be located on land leased from GM, creating 1,700 new jobs when it is fully operational.

After entering the first phase of mass production in early 2025, the new plant will have an annual capacity of 50 gigawatt-hours of battery cells, enabling annual production of 700,000 high-performance EVs that can drive over 500 kilometers on a single charge.

Ultium Cells also plans to begin operations of its first factory in Ohio this year and of its second one in Tennessee next year. Battery cells produced in the three factories will be supplied to GM's EV assembly plants, including Orion Township Assembly in Michigan.

"With a shared vision, GM and LG Energy Solution pioneered the EV sector by seizing new opportunities in the market well before anyone else did," LGES CEO Kwon Young-soo said. "Our third battery manufacturing plant, fittingly located in America's automotive heartland, will serve as a gateway to charge thousands and later millions of EVs in the future."

LGES Advanced Automotive Battery Division head Kim Dong-myung delivers a speech at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of LGES

GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said her company will invest $7 billion, the largest in the company's history, into electric vehicle and battery production in Michigan.

"This significant investment demonstrates our commitment to strengthen our Michigan and U.S. manufacturing presence and grow good-paying jobs," she said. "We will have the products, the battery cell capacity and the vehicle assembly capacity to be the EV leader by mid-decade."

LGES Head of Advanced Automotive Battery Division Kim Dong-myung, second from left, greets Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of LGES

Amid its accelerated efforts to expand its presence in the U.S. EV battery market, LGES also decided to establish a joint venture with another U.S. automotive manufacturer, Stellantis, to produce 40 gigawatt-hours of battery cells every year. They will determine where to build a factory and start construction on it in the second quarter of this year, with the aim of starting operations in the first quarter of 2024.

LGES said it is considering investing more in North America to build more factories there. The company aims for its factories there, including the one that started operating in Michigan in 2012, to produce a combined 40 gigawatt-hours of battery cells annually. If it achieves its goal and its joint ventures with U.S. carmakers finish their factory constructions, LGES will be able to produce 200 gigawatt-hours of battery cells every year.