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Stellantis and LG Energy Solution have agreed to form a joint venture that will produce battery cells and modules for North America at a new production facility. The companies are obviously fans of EV journalist John Voelcker, who praised Ford and GM for announcing new battery facilities in a recent Car and Driver article, and challenged Stellantis to do the same.
“The location of the new facility is currently under review and further details will be shared at a later date,” said Stellantis. Oddly, the companies didn’t specifically state that the new plant will be located in North America, but corporate press releases are often ambiguous, so let’s assume that that’s what they mean. “The batteries produced at the new facility will be supplied to Stellantis assembly plants throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico for installation in next-generation electric vehicles ranging from plug-in hybrids to full battery electric vehicles that will be sold under the Stellantis family of brands.”
Groundbreaking is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2022, and production should start by the first quarter of 2024. Annual production capacity is expected to be 40 GWh. For comparison, Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory had an initial annual capacity of 35 GWh.
“Today’s announcement is further proof that we are deploying our aggressive electrification road map and are following through on the commitments we made during our EV Day event in July,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. “We have now determined the next gigafactory coming to the Stellantis portfolio to help us achieve a total minimum of 260 gigawatt hours of capacity by 2030.”
“Establishing a joint venture with Stellantis will be a monumental milestone in our long-standing partnership,” said Jong-hyun Kim, CEO of LG Energy Solution. “LGES will position itself as a provider of battery solutions to our prospective customers in the region by utilizing our collective, unique technical skills and mass-producing capabilities.”
Source: Stellantis, TechCrunch
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