GM's joint venture considers location near Michigan border for 4th battery plant

Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
·3 min read

Ultium Cells LLC, the joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, is eyeing northern Indiana for its next — and fourth — battery cell factory.

Ultium spokewoman Brooke Waid told the Free Press on Friday that the company is developing a "competitive business case for a potential large investment" to potentially be in New Carlisle, Indiana. New Carlisle is a few miles south of the Michigan border and about 15 miles west of South Bend, Indiana.

"As part of developing a competitive business case, Ultium Cells LLC has submitted a tax abatement application with St. Joseph County," where New Carlisle is located, Waid said in a statement. "Ultium Cells, with the support of GM officials, are in discussions with the appropriate local officials on the abatement application."

Ultium Cells, a joint venture of LG Energy Solution and GM, will spend $2.6 billion to build its third battery cell plant in the United States in Lansing. It will create 1,700 new jobs and is scheduled to open in late 2024. This is a rendering of what it will look like.
Ultium Cells, a joint venture of LG Energy Solution and GM, will spend $2.6 billion to build its third battery cell plant in the United States in Lansing. It will create 1,700 new jobs and is scheduled to open in late 2024. This is a rendering of what it will look like.

Waid said the company hopes to get approval for the application later this month.

"Securing an approved tax abatement is a critical step of the project moving forward," Waid said. She declined to disclose any additional details of the project at this time.

This plant is expected to be similar to three others Ultium Cells is building and have a similar cost of about $2 billion, Reuters reported, citing a source briefed on the matter. Reuters, which was first to report the story, said a start-production date was unknown.

GM has said its lineup will consist of all zero-emissions vehicles by 2035. GM aims to have more than 1 million units of EV capacity annually in North America by the end of 2025 and to convert half of its North American assembly capacity to EV production by 2030.

In 2019, Ultium announced it would invest $2.3 billion to build the first of four battery cell plants: Ultium Cells Warren located near GM's former Lordstown Assembly plant in northeast Ohio. Battery cell production is planned to begin there this month, but neither GM or Ultium will provide a specific start date.

The battery cells it makes will go into GM's new EVs using GM's Ultium propulsion system. That includes the GMC Hummer EV made at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck and the newly launched Cadillac Lyriq EV made in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Ultium Cells started construction on a battery cell plant near Spring Hill to take over providing the batteries for the Lyriq when it starts running later next year. GM announced that factory site in April 2021, saying the $2.3 billion factory will be a 2.8-million-square-foot facility expected to create 1,300 new manufacturing jobs.

In January, GM said it will spend $2.6 billion to build a third Ultium Cells battery factory in the Lansing area, which it has started construction on and is expected to open in late 2024.

General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra announces on Jan. 25, 2022, a GM investment of more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites that includes building a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing and converting the GM Orion Assembly plant to build full-size electric pickups. The investment will create 4,000 new jobs and retain 1,000. Barra made the announcement from the Senate Hearing Room of the Boji Tower in Lansing, Michigan.

Ultium Cells will spend $2.6 billion to build the new battery cell plant in Lansing on 590 acres adjacent to GM's Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant. It's expect to create more than 1,700 new Ultium Cells jobs when it is fully operational, said GM President Mark Reuss in a previous Free Press article.

Last month, the U.S. Energy Department agreed to loan Ultium Cells $2.5 billion to help fund the construction of the plants in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

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Contact Jamie L. LaReau:  jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM joint venture Ultium Cells considers new battery plant in Indiana