Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) are partnering on an electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing joint venture in Savannah, Georgia, where the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America is under construction.
The joint venture’s battery production will have an annual production capacity of 30 gigawatt hours, which is enough power to support the making of 300,000 electric vehicles.
Battery packs will be assembled by Hyundai Mobis using cells from the plant, further supplying them to the group’s U.S. manufacturing facilities for the production of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis electric vehicles. The facility will help create a steady supply of batteries in the region and allow the company to respond more quickly to the increasing demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. market.
LGES now has seven battery plants operating or under construction in the U.S., which is where the company is focusing most of its resources to expand production capacities. By increasing local production, LGES aims to provide products in scale and with speed, aiding the transition of clean energy in the United States.
The companies have been partners in the field of electrification for many years and have worked on the supplies of batteries for electric vehicles including the Elantra Hybrid, Kona Electric, and IONIQ 6 dedicated EV.
Hyundai Motor Group’s first electrified model, the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid LPi hybrid, was introduced in 2009. Both companies started construction of the Indonesia battery cell joint venture in 2021, which is scheduled to start production in the first half of 2024.
Jaehoon Chang, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, said the company is focusing on electrification efforts to create a strong foundation to lead the global electric vehicle transition by establishing the new battery cell plant.
Both Hyundai Motor Group and LGES will hold a 50% stake in the joint venture, involving an investment of over $4.3 billion. They aim to strengthen ties with the EV battery cooperation going forward. Construction for the joint venture will start in the second half of 2023 with battery production aimed to start at the end of 2025 at the earliest, according to the companies.
