- General Motors chairman and chief executive officer Mary Barra: “Our approach to EV adoption is holistic, and we are moving fast.”
General Motors chairman and chief executive officer Mary Barra announced earlier this week that the auto giant is setting up a joint venture with LG Chem for mass-producing batteries for its electric vehicles.
GM and LG will be investing up to $2.3 billion as part of the new 50-50 joint venture in order to set up a battery cell assembly plant in the Lordstown area of Northeast Ohio — which will create over 1,100 new jobs.
“Our long-standing history with General Motors has proven our collective expertise in this space, and we look forward to continuing this drive for zero emissions,” said LG Chem chief executive officer H.C. (Hak Cheol) Shin.
The goal is to break ground in Ohio in 2020. And GM plans to use the new plant’s batteries by 2021.
“The opportunity ahead, and the potential benefit, is too great to go it alone. Aligning with like-minded partners, we are bringing the skills and resources to ensure that clean, electric vehicles will prevail – reimagined, fun to drive, better for the environment and with efficiency and economics that prove their worth,” said Barry in a LinkedIn post. “We recognize that our portfolio is only one piece of the solution toward a zero-emissions future. Our approach to EV adoption is holistic, and we are moving fast. We have robust plans to enhance charging infrastructure, reduce charging times, and support stronger EV public policy to enhance convenience and the overall EV experience for our customers.”
Back in March, GM had idled the plant at the Lordstown, Ohio plant — which was known for building the Chevy Cruze sedan. President Trump criticized the move to idle the plant and threatened to cut company subsidies. So UAW 1112 President and General Motors Team Leader Dave Green wrote a couple of letters to President Trump asking him to get involved in order to save the GM Lordstown plant.
The plant was addressed during the negotiations between GM and the UAW as part of a new four-year labor contract. GM said it would set it up a battery plant as a fix for the layoffs in Lordstown and displaced workers received relocation deals. The UAW went on strike for about 50 days, which was the longest a major automaker has seen since in many decades.
The battery factory is going to have an annual capacity of 30-gigawatt hours with an option for future expansion. Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada saw 35-gigawatt hours in March 2019, which was enough to manufacture millions of battery cells every day.
About a month ago, GM had sold its 6.2-million-square-foot Lordstown Assembly plant to an electric vehicle startup called Lordstown Motors. Workhorse Group has a 10% stake in Lordstown Motors.
