LG Energy, GM’s 2nd Ultium Cells plant begins production in Tennessee

LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s second-largest battery maker, said on Tuesday that the second plant of Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture with its US partner General Motors Co., has begun mass production in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

First batches of pouch-type batteries “made by Ultium Cells Spring Hill” have been delivered to GM for the US automaker’s latest EV models, including the Cadillac Lyriq, the South Korean battery maker said in a statement.

LG said Ultium Cells’ second plant with a production capacity of 35 gigawatt hours (GWh) will gradually ramp up its output capacity to 50 GWh, enough to power 600,000 high-performance pure electric cars that can run 500 km on a single charge.

The new plant is running on a cutting-edge smart factory system to maximize productivity through an automated manufacturing process and quality inspections, LG said.

"The second factory, built on our solid partnership with GM, will grow into a core base for the North American electric vehicle market along with the first and third factories," said Kim Young-duk, chief of the second plant.

In April 2021, LG Energy and GM said they would spend 2.7 trillion won ($2 billion) to build their second US EV battery plant in Tennessee.

OTHER LG-GM JOINT VENTURES

LG and GM’s first Ultium Cells plant with a production capacity of 35 GWh in Ohio began production in November 2022.

A $2.6 billion third joint venture in Michigan with a production capacity of 50 GWh is currently under construction to begin production in 2025.

LG Energy, a unit of Korea’s top chemicals maker LG Chem Ltd., has been increasing investment to expand its presence in the US market.

The company is building or operating battery joint ventures in North America with other partners, including Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., Japan’s Honda Motor Co. and multinational automaker Stellantis N.V.

In October 2021, LG and Stellantis announced a $3.4 billion battery joint venture in the US, separate from their plan to build a $4.1 billion battery factory in Ontario, Canada.

LG also operates independent battery plants in the US.

Last year, it said it would invest 7.2 trillion won to build a battery complex in Queen Creek, Arizona, its second standalone battery facility in the US.

LG already runs a battery plant in Holland, Michigan, where it is expanding production capacity to 25 GWh by 2025 from 5 GWh.

LG Energy Solution Michigan Inc., which began operations in 2012, has been supplying batteries to major US automakers, including GM and Ford Motor.

“The current slowdown in EV uptakes is temporary. We are taking a pre-emptive move to become the global leader when the battery market enters a full-fledged growth period,” said an LG official.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com


In-Soo Nam edited this article.