GM, LG consider building battery plant in Indiana

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GM, LG consider building battery plant in Indiana

General Motors and LG Energy Solution are considering building a battery cell manufacturing plant in Indiana.

It would be the fourth battery plan developed by the companies' joint venture, Ultium Cells LLC.

New Carlisle, Indiana is being looked at for the potential investment, and Ultium has submitted a tax abatement application that it hopes will be approved later this month, according to a spokeswoman for the joint venture.

The first U.S battery cell plant in Warren, Ohio is scheduled to start later this month.

In January, GM and LG announced a $2.6 billion investment to build a new battery cell plant in Lansing, Michigan that will open in late 2024.

GM also said that it would spend $4 billion to upgrade and expand an assembly plant near Detroit to build electric pickup trucks and be supplied by the Lansing battery plant.

GM and LG Energy are working on a $2.3 billion plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

A source told Reuters that the fourth plant is expected to be similar with an investment of more than $2 billion.

It is not known when the plant will start operations.

In July, GM struck multi-year agreements with LG Chem Ltd and Livent Corp to secure key raw materials used in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.

President Biden signed legislation this week that imposed new sourcing rules on battery components and critical minerals that take effect Jan. 1 for electric vehicles to be eligible for $7,500 in tax credits.

Biden wants half of U.S. vehicle production by 2030 to be electric or plug-in electric.

In May, Chrysler- parent Stellantis NV and Samsung SDI said they would build a new joint venture battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana.