Sections

ideals
Business Essentials for Professionals



Companies
05/03/2021

GM Talking With LG Chem To Build Second Battery Plant In US




GM Talking With LG Chem To Build Second Battery Plant In US
United States based auto giant General Motors Co is considering plans to setting up of its second battery making unit in the US in partnership with South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd, the auto maker said.
 
It is "exploring the feasibility of constructing a second, state of the art battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States" in partnership with LG's battery unit LG Energy Solution and through its Ultium Cells LLC joint venture, confirmed the largest US automaker.
 
The company hopes to make a final decision by June this year,
 
According to reports, executives from GM and LG Chem are holding advanced levels talks with Tennessee officials for the setting up of the plant which is expected to be located close to the Spring Hill assembly plant of GM. The reports also said quoting source information that the scale and scope of the new factory would be similar to the $2.3 billion joint venture battery plant of GM in Lordstown, Ohio, which is currently being set up.
 
An investment of $2 billion would be made by it in Spring Hill to build electric vehicles, including the Cadillac Lyriq, GM said in October. Last year, the Detroit based automaker had talked of making an investment of $27 billion for development and production of electric and autonomous vehicles over the next five years which was higher than the previously announced amount of $20 billion prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
GM expects that there would be aggressive demands for batteries for the company to meet its EV targets by the end of the decade and expects that the demand would not be fulfilled by the capacity of the single battery plant which is currently being constructed in Tennessee, said reports quoting sources. In January this year, GM announced its ambitious plans of phasing out production and sale of all of its light-duty gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035 and replace them with EVs.
 
It was just a day ago that the US Transportation Department disclosed that it would be analysing the impact of an electric vehicle battery trade ruling against SK Innovation Co Ltd on the green transportation goals of President Joe Biden in the ongoing trade fight in an ongoing trade fight pf tgeh company with LG Chem.
 
It was in talks to make further investments with GM, LG Chem's battery unit, LG Energy Solution, said in a statement, but did not disclose any specifics of the talks.  "LG Energy Solution is also planning additional capacity expansion for other global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) located in the US," it said.
 
The vehicle battery-cell plant in Ohio which GM and LG Chem will set up jointly will be the largest such factory in the world in terms of production capacity. That unit which is being constructed near GM's closed assembly plant in Lordstown will help in speeding up the plans of GM to launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2025 throughout the world.
 
By 2025, GM has set a target to sell more EVs annually in the United States and China than it had previously announced, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra has said.
 
(Source:www.usnews.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

Markets | Companies | M&A | Innovation | People | Management | Lifestyle | World | Misc