General Motors is forming a joint venture with Posco Chemical of South Korea to build a North American battery-materials plant as it brings more steps in the electric-vehicle supply chain under its umbrella.
The Detroit automaker said Wednesday that details of the venture still are being worked out, including investment amounts and the plant location. GM said the factory will supply materials to make cathodes — the energy center of a battery that amounts to 40 percent of the cost.
The plant will employ hundreds of people and will start making materials in 2024, said Doug Parks, GM’s global product development and supply chain head.
The plant will supply four North American battery-cell factories that GM plans to build. Two of those locations have been announced — Lordstown and Spring Hill, Tenn.
In Lordstown, the nearly 3 million-square-foot plant — large enough to contain 30 football fields — on Tod Avenue SW is expected to be complete by the end of the year with early phase production beginning in early 2022. It will employ upward of 1,100 people at full capacity. It is a joint venture between GM and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.
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