GM, Samsung plan new EV battery cell factory in U.S.

General Motors and South Korea’s Samsung SDI plan to invest more than $3 billion in a new electric vehicle battery cell plant in the United States, the companies said Tuesday.

They did not announce the intended location of the new factory, which is expected to begin operations in 2026, GM and Samsung SDI said in a statement. GM and Samsung SDI plan to jointly operate the factory, which is expected to make nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. The companies said it was expected to create thousands of jobs.

The project is GM’s fourth joint venture battery cell factory. It has announced three others with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. A 900-worker factory near Warren, Ohio, is starting to build cells, while plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing, Michigan, are in the works.

A fourth, $2.4 billion Ultium Cells facility was planned, and a 656-acre site at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle was being considered for the plant. The St. Joseph County Council last September approved an economic development agreement and incentives for the project, should the site be chosen.

However, those plans were put on hold in January after GM and LG failed to come to an agreement on the project. But South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Jeff Rea told IIB on Tuesday the region remains optimistic about its chances to be a part of GM’s EV future.

“Our dealings from the beginning have been principally with GM, we have not been in any discussions with their joint venture partners,” Rea said. “We remain in regular contact with the GM team and are hopeful that as they move towards a final decision, that our site is at the top of their list.”

It was not immediately clear if the New Carlisle site is in the running for the new GM/Samsung project.

The announcement coincides with a visit to the United States by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The two countries are marking the 70th anniversary of their alliance with a summit that was also feature announcements on new nuclear deterence efforts, cyber security and other areas of cooperation.

Samsung was picked as the partner for the fourth plant after some Chevrolet Bolt batteries made by LG caught fire, forcing GM to recall about 142,000 vehicles due to a battery manufacturing problem. The recall cost GM about $1.9 billion, and the automaker said it was reimbursed for the cost by LG.

“We will do our best to provide the products featuring the highest level of safety and quality produced with our unrivaled technologies to help GM strengthen its leadership in the EV market,” Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi said in a statement.

Samsung has previously announced plans to build a $2.5 billion EV battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana, through a joint venture with European automaker Stellantis.

The new GM factory will have more than 30 gigawatt hours of capacity and will increase GM’s total U.S. battery cell capacity to about 160 gigawatt hours when it is at full production, the companies said.

GM has pledged to sell only electric vehicles by 2035. It has said that because of its huge investment in battery plants and a North American EV supply chain, six of its current or upcoming electric vehicles are to be eligible for the full $7,500 U.S. federal EV tax credit. They are the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt SUV, the Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup, the Cadillac Lyriq SUV and the upcoming Chevy Blazer and Equinox electric SUVs.

Under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, EVs must be assembled in North America, and a certain percentage of their battery parts and minerals have to come from North America or a U.S. free trade partner to qualify for the full tax credit.

Workers at the Ohio battery plant have voted to join the United Auto Workers union, which is pushing to organize the other factories and get top wages for the workers. Union officials have said they must organize the battery plants so that workers making engines and transmissions have a place to go when jobs making internal combustion vehicles are phased out.

Electric vehicles have 30% to 40% fewer moving parts and require about 30% fewer labor hours to build them.