LG Chem Starts Injecting Capital into Battery Joint Venture with GM

A rendering image of a battery cell manufacturing plant of Ultium Cells, a joint venture between LG Chem and GM to be established in Ohio of the United States

LG Chem has started to inject capital into a battery joint venture with GM. LG Chem invested US$35.29 million in Ultium Cells in April, according to LG Chem’s business report released on May 24. LG Chem and GM announced in December 2019 their plans to invest a total of 2.7 trillion won in the battery joint venture, with LG Chem investing one trillion won over four years until 2023. LG Chem has started to make full-fledged investments in Ultium Cells.

When the Ultium Cells plant goes into operation, LG Chem will secure two production bases in the United States. The production capacity of its plant in Holland, Michigan is 5 GWh per year. Ultium Cells’ production capacity is 30 GWh per year. The company will also expand its battery production capacity in Asia and Europe. It plans to build a joint venture battery plant with a production capacity of 10GWh by the end of 2021 with Chinese automaker Geely. Its Wroclaw plant in Poland will increase its production capacity to 60 GWh per year through expansion.

Accordingly, LG Chem’s battery production capacity will expand to 200 GWh in 2023, which can charge 3.3 million pure electric vehicles that can run 380 kilometers on a single charge.