Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution agreed to invest an additional $2 billion into their battery cell manufacturing joint venture in Georgia, raising the JV’s total investment value to more than $4.3 billion.
According to the memorandum of understanding from May 2023, the two South Korean manufacturers will build a battery cell factory at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America’s (HMGMA) plant in Bryan County (currently under construction). The combined investment of the electric vehicle plant and battery plant is estimated at $7.59 billion and is expected to create 8,500 new jobs for the region over the next eight years.
The battery manufacturing capacity is set at 30 gigawatt-hours annually to support the production of 300,000 electric vehicles (Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis) annually at full operations. This means that the average battery pack is expected to be around 100 kWh.
The battery cells will be assembled into battery packs by Hyundai Motor Group's Hyundai Mobis.
This is not the only battery project announced by Hyundai Motor Group to prepare for mass electrification. A separate joint venture was launched with SK Innovation's SK On, to build a 35-GWh battery plant in Bartow Centre, Georgia.
LGES and SK On are Hyundai Motor Group's main battery partners and it's not expected to change anytime soon.
Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution battery JV in brief:
- joint venture (50/50) between Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) and LG Energy Solution
- expected investment: over $4.3 billion (KRW 5.7 trillion)
- location: Bryan County, Savannah, Georgia
adjacent to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (under construction) - battery type: lithium-ion cells for electric vehicles
cell format: N/A - manufacturing capacity (target): 30 GWh/year
(sufficient for roughly 300,000 all-electric vehicles) - construction start (target): in the second half of 2023
- production start (target): at the end of 2025
- battery packs to be produced by Hyundai Mobis
- expected to supply HGM plants:
Metaplant America (HMGMA), Bryan County, Georgia
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) factory in Montgomery, Alabama
Kia Georgia Plant (KaGA)
