GM and LG will invest an added $275 million into their Ultium battery production facility in Tennessee.
Much like the rest of the automotive industry, General Motors is currently supply-constrained regarding battery cells that will go into electric vehicles. Matching the moves of numerous other automakers, GM has chosen to work with LG to expand its battery production capabilities as fast as possible. According to The Detroit News, GM and LG are increasing their investment in one such plant to boost production. GM hopes its Ultium battery production brand can supply up to 130GWh of battery cells by the decade’s end.
The Tennessee battery production location is already a significant producer with a capacity of 35GWh, which stems from an original investment of $2.3 billion earlier this year. But now GM hopes to boost production by 40% to 50GWh by the time upgrades are made with their over quarter billion dollar investment.
GM has likely been spurred on by the success its long-time competitor, Ford, is finding within the electric vehicles segment, all the while without any significant competition from GM brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, or Buick.
Concurrently, LG Chem has been expanding at an ever faster rate. The South Korean battery maker recently announced that it would also be building the U.S.’s largest battery cathode materials manufacturing location in Tennessee. There is no wonder why GM chose such an ambitious partner as they look to expand EV production in the same location.
General Motors didn’t announce details regarding a timeline for introducing the upgrades to the new facility. Still, they will likely be on the fast track as the American auto group’s brands look to introduce numerous electric vehicles in the coming year/s. Perhaps most notably the Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV counterparts. It will be interesting to see how GM handles the production of its new vehicles and how soon customers will be able to get their vehicles.
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