Dive Brief:
- EV battery maker Ultium Cells is investing $275 million to expand an upcoming production facility under construction in Spring Hill, Tennessee, state officials announced last week. The funding is in addition to an initial $2.3 billion investment for a new facility announced in April 2021.
- Ultium, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, will supply battery cells from the facility to GM’s Spring Hill assembly plant to produce its Cadillac LYRIQ and other Ultium Platform-based electric vehicles, according to a news release.
- The increased investment will boost the facility’s battery cell output by 40% and is expected to begin operations in late 2023.
Dive Insight:
The Spring Hill expansion is part of GM’s larger push to increase its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles, first announced in June 2021. The strategy includes two new Ultium battery cell manufacturing sites in Tennessee and Ohio.
“This investment will allow us to provide our customer GM more battery cells faster and support GM’s aggressive EV launch plan in the coming years,” Tom Gallagher, Ultium’s vice president of operations, said in a statement. “Ultium Cells is taking the appropriate steps to support GM’s plan for more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America by mid-decade.”
GM and LG invested $2.3 billion in the first battery cell facility in Warren, Ohio, which began production in August. In January, the joint venture invested $2.6 billion on a third facility in Lansing, Michigan, which is under construction and expected to open in late 2024.
Ultium Cells expects to have over 130-gigawatt hours of battery cell capacity when all three facilities are at full production capacity, according to the Dec. 2 release.
In October 2021, General Motors said it invested $2 billion to transition its Spring Hill plant to build electric vehicles, including the Cadillac LYRIQ. The facility became GM’s third vehicle manufacturing site to produce electric vehicles and the first outside of Michigan.
“Ultium Cells will play a critical role in making GM’s commitment to an all-electric future a reality,” Tim Herrick, GM’s vice president of EV Launch Excellence, said in a statement. “By expanding battery cell output at Ultium Spring Hill, this investment will help GM offer customers the broadest EV portfolio of any automaker and further solidifies our path toward U.S. EV leadership.”
Responses