Dignitaries, including GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, LG Energy Solution President and CEO Kim Jong-hyun, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pose at an event in which LG Energy Solution and GM announced a plan to set up a joint-venture EV battery plant in Tennessee on April 16.

LG Energy Solution will invest about 1 trillion won to build a second joint venture battery plant with General Motors, the U.S. No. 1 automaker.

LG Energy Solution’s board of directors issued a public notice on April 16 in which the company decided to contribute 1.064.2 trillion won ($933.5 million) for a 2nd EV battery plant for Ultium Cells LLC, a 50:50 joint-venture between LG Energy Solution and GM. LG Energy Solution will invest the money in Ultium Cells by 2023.

GM will contribute the same amount of money in Ultium Cells, which will borrow an additional 600 billion won. Consequently, total investment amounts for the establishment of LG Energy Solution’s second EV battery plant are expected to stand at 2.7 trillion won.

LG Energy Solution’s 2nd EV battery plant, to be built in the state of Tennessee, the United States, is said to have a size similar to that of its first battery plant, being built in Ohio.

A bird’s eye-view of a joint-venture EV battery plant in Tennessee, to be built by LG Energy Solution and GM. (Photos: LG Energy Solution)

If the first and second plants are all dedicated, LG Energy Solution will have a combined more than 140GWh EV battery production capacity in the United States by 2025 in addition to its own production capacity of 75GWh in the United States.

“The addition of our second all-new Ultium battery cell plant in the U.S. with our joint venture partner LG Energy Solution is another major step in our transition to an all-electric future,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

“The support of the state of Tennessee was an important factor in making this investment in Spring Hill possible and this type of support will be critical moving forward as we continue to take steps to transition our manufacturing footprint to support EV production.”

“This partnership with General Motors will transform Tennessee into another key location for electric vehicle and battery production. It will allow us to build solid and stable U.S-based supply chains that enable everything from research, product development and production to the procurement of raw components,” LG Energy Solution President and CEO Kim Jong-hyun said.

 
“Importantly, I truly believe this coming together transcends a partnership as it marks a defining moment that will reduce emissions and help to accelerate the adoption of EVs.”

GM, aiming to stop internal combustion car sales by 2035, plans to channel $27 billion for the development of EVs and self-driving cars in the next five years.

Earlier, LG Energy Solution announced a plan to invest 5 trillion won in the United States by 2025. The company’s move may be construed as its bid to lead in investments into the EV battery sector in keeping with the U.S. Biden administration’s acceleration of a shift into EV cars coupled with its Green New Deal and eco-friendly policies.

LG Energy Solution said on March 12 it will invest more than 5 trillion won to build more than two EV battery plants in the United States by 2015. The plant plans to secure an additional 70GWh EV battery production capacity by investing more than 5 trillion on its own in the Unites States besides its joint-venture EV battery plant with GM.

 
The company’s own TV battery capacity will rise to 75Gwh, including the existing Michigan plant with a 5GWh capacity. If its upcoming joint-venture plant is counted, LG Energy Solution’s total production capacity will soar to 145GWh, an equivalent to that sufficing for 2 million EV units.

Currently, LG Energy Solution has a global production capacity of 120GWh, the most in the world. The company plans to raise its EV battery production capacity to 260GWh - equivalent to more than 3.7 million EV units - by 2023, by expanding facilities in Korea, Poland and China on top of those in the United States.