Samsung SDI said it had agreed to build a second electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in the US in a deal with global carmaker Stellantis under their StarPlus Energy joint venture.
This is in addition to existing plans announced last May to build a first JV battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana which was scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2025 with a capacity for 33 GWh gigawatt hours (GWh) of EV batteries per year.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week to build the second plant with capacity of 34 GWh with the aim of starting production in 2027, to meet growing EV demand in North America. The companies said they had yet to decide on location.
Samsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi said in a statement: “The second plant will accelerate our market penetration in the US and help Stellantis push forward the US transition to an era of EVs."
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said: “This new facility will contribute to reaching our aggressive target of offering at least 25 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in North America by the end of the decade. We continue to add more capacity in the US together with Samsung SDI."
As part of its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis aims to achieve a 100% passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV mix in the US by 2030. To achieve that, Stellantis said it needed to secure around 400GWh annual battery capacity.
