GM EV Battery Joint Venture to Receive $2.5 Billion DOE Loan

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a conditional loan of $2.5 billion for Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan) and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution, for the construction of lithium-ion battery cell-manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. Industrial Info is tracking the projects, which will supply GM's auto assembly plants.

According to a press release from the DOE's Loan Programs Office, "While this conditional commitment demonstrates the Department's intent to finance the project, several steps remain, and certain conditions must be satisfied before the Department issues a final loan."

Regardless, the joint venture is almost finished with construction of its $2.3 billion grassroot battery cell-manufacturing plant in Warren, Ohio. The 2.8 million-square-foot facility will have a production capacity equivalent to 35-plus gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year, with room for expansion, according to the company website. First production is slated for August. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can click here for a detailed project report.

Meanwhile, construction of the $2.3 billion grassroot plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, is underway. Production is expected to begin in late 2023. The 2.8 million-square-foot facility will produce battery cells for GM's Spring Hill Auto Assembly Plant, located next door, which will build the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ model. Subscribers can click here for a detailed project report.

The joint venture also has kicked off construction of its $2.6 billion battery cell-manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, which is planned to open in 2025. The facility will be capable of producing 50 GWh of battery cells per year.

Ultium battery cells are designed to reduce the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries by more than 70%. The cells use a "state-of-the-art nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum (NCMA) chemistry to deliver more range at less cost," according to a DOE press release. The cells can be used in different combinations, with the ability to serve everything from passenger vehicles to work trucks to electric aircraft. Lithium accounts for about a quarter of the total battery cost, according to the DOE.

Earlier this month, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan) announced several non-binding memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with miners to directly source battery cell raw materials, including lithium. For more information, see Industrial Info's July 26, 2022, article - Ford Announces Mining MOUs to Support EV Batteries.

Click on the image at right for a graphic on the lithium-based battery supply chain, from the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB).

The FCAB is led by the departments of Energy, Defense, Commerce and State, and other government organizations, "to provide a coordinated approach to ensuring a domestic supply of lithium batteries and accelerating the development of a robust and secure domestic industrial base."

According to the FCAB's National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030, the global lithium-battery market is expected to grow by a factor of 5% to 10% by 2030.

Subscribers can click here for a detailed list of GM projects and click here for a list of projects attributed to LG Energy Solution, a subsidiary of LG Chemical Limited (Seoul). The latter's U.S. battery subsidiary, LG Energy Solution Michigan Incorporated, will kick off a $1.7 billion lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant expansion in Holland, Michigan, in October, in order to produce EV batteries for GM. Click here for the project report.

The timely completion of EV battery-manufacturing projects is key to GM and other automakers reaching their goals, according to David Pickering, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Industrial Manufacturing Industry. For more information, see February 7, 2022, article - Automakers Pledge to Electrify Transportation, but Will the Batteries Be There?

In May, the DOE announced $3.1 billion in grant funding to boost the domestic manufacturing of batteries and components, and reduce U.S. reliance on imports of minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. For more information, see May 5, 2022, article - $3 Billion Grant Program to Charge Up U.S. Lithium-Ion Battery Production.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).