General Motors and Hyundai on Tuesday announced new investments in U.S. battery manufacturing plants totaling $8 billion.
The new facilities will help the automakers meet local sourcing requirements required to qualify for federal electric vehicle tax credits.
GM is partnering with Samsung SDI on a $3 billion plant that is set to open in 2026 at a yet-to-be-disclosed location.
"GM’s supply chain strategy for EVs is focused on scalability, resiliency, sustainability and cost-competitiveness. Our new relationship with Samsung SDI will help us achieve all these objectives," GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said in a press release.
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"The cells we will build together will help us scale our EV capacity in North America well beyond 1 million units annually."
The factory will be able to manufacture 30 gigawatt-hours worth of cells annually, bringing GM's domestic capacity to 160 gigawatt-hours.
GM's current lineup of electric models uses battery packs sized from 65 kilowatt-hours to 200 kilowatt-hours per vehicle.
The plant will manufacture nickel-based cells in both the pouch-type format GM currently uses and the cylindrical format, which is favored by some other brands including Tesla.
The Ultium electric vehicle platform that will be used for all of GM's future battery-powered vehicles was designed to accommodate both.
"The introduction of new cell form factors will allow us to expand into even more segments more quickly and integrate cells directly into battery packs to reduce weight, complexity and costs. With multiple strong cell partners, we can scale our EV business faster than we could going it alone," Doug Parks, GM's executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain said.
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Hyundai Motor Co. and SK On, owned by South Korea's SK Innovation, also revealed plans for a $5 billion battery plant in Georgia that will begin operations in 2025.
The facility will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours of cells, which is enough for approximately 300,000 electric vehicles.
Hyundai's luxury brand Genesis currently sells an Alabama-built electric version of the GV70 SUV, but with imported batteries that disqualify it for the purchase credit.
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Production of additional Hyundai and Kia models is scheduled to begin at a separate factory in Georgia in 2024.
Reuters contributed to this report
