Stellantis to open new battery Gigafactory with LG

Stellantis and technology company LG are teaming up to build a new battery plant in the United States.

The factory will have an annual capacity of 40 gigawatt hours and produce batteries for a range of Stellantis-built vehicles, from plug-in hybrids to fully-electric vehicles, as it looks to service the existing manufacturing plants throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

An integral part of Stellantis's €30 billion (AU$47bn) investment towards electrification across its brands, the battery manufacturing facility is slated for a 2024 opening – the tenth anniversary of LG's partnership with Stellantis (then Fiat Chrysler Automobiles).

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CEO Carlos Tavares said the announcement is an extension of the conglomerate's electric plans which were revealed earlier this year.

“Today’s announcement is further proof that we are deploying our aggressive electrification road map and are following through on the commitments we made during our EV Day event in July,” said Tavares.

“With this, we have now determined the next ‘gigafactory’ coming to the Stellantis portfolio to help us achieve a total minimum of 260 gigawatt hours of capacity by 2030. I want to warmly thank each person involved in this strategic project. Together, we will lead the industry with benchmark efficiencies and deliver electrified vehicles that ignite passion.”

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LG is also in a North American partnership with General Motors, helping the major manufacturer to produce its new Ultium battery packs – which are set to underpin vehicles such as the all-electric Chevrolet Silverado.

The North American manufacturing industry is currently going through a period of change as the recently-appointed President of the United States, Joe Biden, has asked local car companies for 40 per cent of their production volume to come from EVs by 2030, a major swing for the internal combustion engine-driven market.