Hyundai and LGES to build battery factory in Georgia
Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution have announced a joint venture to produce battery cells for electric cars in the USA. The Korean companies will invest over $4.3 bn and hold the JV equally. The selected site is the state of Georgia which is no stranger to Hyundai.
Hyundai and LGES will use the equivalent of four billion euros to build a battery cell factory in Bryan County, where Hyundai is already making its new electric car plant in Georgia. Construction of the joint battery cell factory will begin in the latter half of this year. Commissioning will start in late 2025 at the earliest, with an annual capacity of 30 GWh. The two partners are not yet giving any details on the type of cells and the origin of the materials.
In Bryan County, not far from the city of Savannah on the Atlantic coast, Hyundai reportedly wants to build 300,000 electric cars of the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands in the ‘Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America’ (HMGMA) from 2025, with more than 8,000 employees. More than $5.5 bn is slated for the vehicle plant alone.
According to today’s announcement, the 30 GWh from the neighbouring cell factory of Hyundai and LGES will be sufficient for exactly those 300,000 vehicles, corresponding to 100 kWh per car. However, not all cells will be installed directly at the Metaplant: Hyundai still operates a vehicle plant in neighbouring Alabama, and Kia also builds cars elsewhere in Georgia. Hyundai’s supplier Mobis will produce battery packs from the cells and deliver them to the aforementioned vehicle plants.
LGES will, therefore, not be the exclusive supplier to HMGMA. As reported, Hyundai Motor Group is also planning a joint battery factory with SK On in Georgia, not in Bryan County, but in Bartow County, i.e. in northwest Georgia near Atlanta. The production capacity of this factory is unknown.
According to a report from November 2022, Hyundai is even aiming for three battery factories in the USA. At that time, there was talk of 20 GWh per year for the SK-On factory; with LGES, two factories with a production capacity of 35 GWh each were supposed to be built. For the time being, one factory with 30 GWh is confirmed.
“We will create a strong foundation to lead the global EV transition by establishing a new EV battery cell plant with LG Energy Solution, a leading global battery producer and long-time partner,” said Jaehoon Chang, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company.
“Two strong leaders in the auto and battery industries have joined hands, and together we are ready to drive the EV transition in America,” said Youngsoo Kwon, CEO of LG Energy Solution.
Including the factory now planned with the Hyundai joint venture, LGES has seven battery factories in operation or the planning stages in the USA.
The company is a long-term supplier to Hyundai and delivers batteries for EV models such as the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, Kona Electric, and Ioniq 6. In 2021, both started construction of the Indonesia battery cell JV which is set to start production in the first half of 2024.
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