LG Invests Billions to Grow U.S. Battery-Manufacturing Footprint

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--LG Energy Solution (Seoul, South Korea) is bolstering its role in the U.S. battery market. In addition to expanding its partnership with Hyundai Motor Group (Seoul) in the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and related battery systems, LG is pressing forward on a series of projects across the U.S. to produce lithium-ion batteries and components such as cathode materials and pouch-type containers. Industrial Info is tracking more than $10 billion worth of active and planned battery-related projects across the U.S. from LG, as well as its efforts with Hyundai to develop an EV and battery plant in Georgia, valued at up to $5.54 billion.

Click on the image at right to see a graph detailing LG's active and planned investments in battery-related projects across the U.S., by location.

LG's most recent step in U.S.-based battery development came from its joint venture with Hyundai to develop a $5.54 billion EV and battery complex in Ellabell, Georgia. The companies announced they would inject another $2 billion into the project, nicknamed the "Metaplant," which is designed to produce up to 300,000 EVs annually. The Metaplant will use cells from the plant to assemble battery packs, which will be used to power Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EV models, according to a press release. Construction on the Metaplant began last August and is expected to run through third-quarter 2025. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Project and Plant databases can read more in a detailed project report and plant profile.

LG and Hyundai each have a 50% interest in Metaplant. Hyundai's other EV-related efforts in the U.S. include an expansion in Alabama and a separate joint venture in Georgia with SK Innovation Company Limited (Seoul). For more information, see May 1, 2023, article - Hyundai Approves EV Battery Joint Venture.

LG already is at work building out one of its own major facilities with the $1.7 billion expansion of its lithium-ion battery plant in Holland, Michigan. The existing facility has a capacity for 5 gigawatt-hours (GWh), and the expansion is expected to quintuple it to 25 GWh. Construction started in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is slated to wrap up in early 2025, with sales agreements already in place with General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan) and Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) (Hoofddorp, Netherlands). Subscribers can read more in a detailed project report and plant profile.

"We add in a 20-GWh plant, combined we are 25 GWh," said Roger Trabouly, the senior manager of energy engineering at LG, in an interview with a local NBC affiliate in June. "When we have all of these plants built up in Ohio, Tennessee, the bit of it in Arizona, we are going to have over 278 GWh. Translate that, that's probably going to be about 2.7 million cars that we can make batteries for."

LG recently proposed an expansion to its existing operations in Tennessee with its Project Columbus cathode-material plant in Clarksville, Tennessee. The facility is designed to produce 120,000 tons of cathode material for EVs per year by 2027. Earlier this year, LG hired JE Dunn Construction (Kansas City, Missouri) to serve as general contractor. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Earlier this year, LG proposed what would be the largest-ever single investment for a stand-alone battery-manufacturing facility in North America: a $5.5 billion battery-manufacturing complex in Queen Creek, Arizona, which would produce batteries for both electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage. For more information, see March 31, 2023, article - LG Energy to Invest $5.5 Billion in Arizona Battery-Manufacturing Complex.

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.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed reports for active and planned battery-related projects across the U.S. from LG.

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) platform 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 more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).