Samsung SDI, Stellantis to build 2nd US EV battery plant in Indiana

Kokomo, Indiana, will be the site of the second electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the US of South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co. and the Netherlands-based automaker Stellantis. 

Both companies on Wednesday said they decided on Kokomo as the site for the joint venture No. 2 StarPlus Energy plant near the No. 1 plant, which the two sides began building last year.

The gigafactory after completion will have production capacity of 67 gigawatt hours (GWh) spanning both plants. The first (33 GWh) will go online in the first quarter of 2025 and the second (34 GWh) in early 2027.

Kokomo is home to Stellantis’ parts plant. The carmaker plans to use the gigafactory as an advance base for its electrification strategy for the city.

With the gigafactory, Samsung SDI now has the largest EV battery manufacturing base in North America. It is targeting the region’s EV market by boosting output there in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act.

“We expect Stellantis EVs installed with batteries containing Samsung SDI’s super gap technology to expedite America’s transition to the EV era,” Samsung SDI President Choi Yoon-ho said.

Write to Sungsu Bae at baebae@hankyung.com