LG Energy, GM to inject another $275 mn in Tennessee plant

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. and General Motors Co. plan to inject an additional $275 million in a US electric vehicle battery plant, under construction in Spring Hill, Tennessee, raising its production capacity by 40%.

The two firms’ joint venture Ultium Cells LLC said Friday it is aiming to increase the plant’s annual output from 35 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to 50 GWh, as well as ramp up job creations by 400 to around 1,700.  

Ultium Cells announced in April 2021 that it will establish the plant with $2.4 billion. The Tennessee-based facilities are set to start full operations in late 2023.

The JV is taking the appropriate steps to support GM’s plan for more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America by mid-decade, Tom Gallagher, Ultium Cells LLC vice president of operations, said in a statement.

In Addition to the Tennessee-based plant, Ultium Cells is constructing an EV battery factory in Lansing Delta Township, Michigan and will begin production in late 2024. The JV also started production in a battery plant in Warren, Ohio in August of this year.

Ultium Cells expects to have more than 130 GWh of battery cell capacity when all three facilities are at full production capacity.

Separately from the JV's project, LG Energy Solution’s parent LG Chem Ltd. is building a $3.2 billion plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, to manufacture key battery component cathode.

It aims to make 120,000 tons of the battery material yearly, which is the largest production capacity in the US and enough to manufacture batteries for 1.2 million units of EVs. The cathode plant will start mass production in late 2025.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.