General Motors and LG Chem will jointly build and develop batteries for electric vehicles that will go on sale in 2023 and beyond, including Chevy’s confirmed electric pickup, the companies announced Thursday.
GM CEO Mary Barra announced the $2.3 billion deal and said the plant would begin construction next year, near Lordstown, Ohio, where GM shuttered and sold a manufacturing plant that built the Chevy Cruze and other vehicles.
The new battery plant will offer 1,100 jobs with roundbreaking expected to take place in mid-2020.
Barra said GM’s investment in the plant was sizable, but reiterated that the automaker believed that battery electric vehicles were “absolutely the future” and that GM was a firm believer in global warming. Barra said the Trump administration was aware of the automaker’s plant, but declined to comment on behalf of the White House.
With the deal, Barra said GM could solidify part of the component chain to build more EVs. Barra didn’t confirm any future models, but GM has already committed to several electric vehicles by 2023, including an electric pickup, and a Cadillac EV.
The deal would create one of the largest battery plants in the world, and GM said it would have an annual capacity of 30 gigawatt hours with room for expansion. By comparison, Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada has an annual output of about 24 gigawatt hours.
