Tech Insights

General Motors, Samsung SDI To Invest $3B in U.S. Battery Plant

June 06, 2023 by Kevin Clemens

The automaker is adding a second battery supplier to ensure it can meet its EV battery needs. 

General Motors (GM) and Samsung SDI will invest $3 billion to build a new battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States. The plant, expected to be operational in 2026, will have an annual production capacity of 30-gigawatt hours (GWh).

 

Simulated EV battery

General Motors and Samsung SDI will invest $3 billion in a new battery cell manufacturing plant. Image used courtesy of General Motors 

 

With more than 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh) capacity, the plant will produce high-nickel prismatic and cylindrical battery cells for use in GM's Ultium batteries in its electric vehicles.  The cells will be used in various GM vehicles to reach GM’s objective of producing more than 1 million EVs annually by 2025. 

 

Ultium

The GM Ultium battery is a large-format, high-energy battery designed for use in electric vehicles (EVs) comprised of individual cells arranged in modules, and the modules are then assembled into packs. The Ultium battery is designed to be flexible and modular, for various EV models, from cars to trucks. It has a long range–GM estimates up to 300 miles on a single charge.  The Ultium battery is used in the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV and will be used in other GM EVs. 

GM already has a joint venture with Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution, which opened an Ultium battery plant in Warren, Ohio. A second battery plant will begin production in Spring Hill, Tennessee, early in 2024, and a third in Lansing, Michigan, will open in early 2025. The three facilities are scheduled to have an annual capacity of at least 135 GWh, which should be enough for GM to build 1.35 million EVs annually.

 

Samsung SDI

South Korean Samsung SDI manufactures lithium-ion batteries for various applications, including electric vehicles, electronics, and energy storage.  The company has battery manufacturing plants in South Korea, China, and the United States and supplies EV batteries to BMW, Audi, Volvo, and Volkswagen in Europe and Ford Motor Company in the U.S.

Although the new joint venture plant between GM and Samsung will be in the U.S., no specific location has been announced. 

Last year, GM and LG Energy Solution received approval for tax incentives to build a battery plant in New Carlisle, Indiana. Those plans were halted in January of this year, however. Since then, the St. Joseph County Council has unanimously approved an agreement for development and tax abatements for a $3.5 billion battery plant investment by GM and Samsung SDI, should the joint venture choose to build its new plant in northern Indiana.

The $3 billion investment is part of GM's plan to invest more than $27 billion in new EVs and battery technology by 2025, launching 30 new electric vehicles and selling one million electric vehicles annually by 2025. This will depend on its ability to build enough lithium-ion batteries to meet the demand. By joining with a second battery maker, Samsung SDI, GM appears to be hedging the best it made with its primary battery supplier LG Energy Solution.