Hyundai Motor Group and General Motors separately announced plans on Tuesday to build electric vehicle battery factories in the United States in partnership with South Korean battery makers.
Hyundai will set up a $5 billion battery cell joint venture in the US with SK On, the company that is also working with Ford to build battery plants. GM will partner with Samsung SDI to invest $3 billion in an EV battery factory.
The partnerships come as competition for electric vehicle batteries heats up in the United States, as foreign and domestic automakers race to build nationwide battery supply chains in order to qualify for the Biden administration’s tax credit. New battery sourcing rules went into effect in April that credit the full $7,500 tax credit to vehicles with battery materials purchased and processed in the United States or via commercial agreement partners.
The announcements also come as South Korean President Yoon Sok Yul travels to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden. South Korean automakers have backed away from the administration’s new rules that bar vehicles made outside the United States from obtaining credit.
Hyundai’s partnership with SK On follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in November 2022. Both companies will own a 50% stake in the $5 billion investment, according to Hyundai.
Hyundai-SK JV will build a battery cell plant in Bartow County, Georgia, near Hyundai’s US production facilities in Alabama and Georgia. Hyundai says the plant will start manufacturing battery cells in the second half of 2025 with an annual production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours, which is supposed to support the production of 300,000 electric vehicles.
Hyundai Mobis, the automaker’s parts and services arm, will assemble the battery packs with cells from the factory and supply them to the automaker for use in upcoming Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EV models. SK On previously worked with Hyundai to build batteries for models like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60.
The GM-Samsung plant is expected to start production in 2026, and will have a capacity of more than 30 GWh. This should bring GM’s total US battery cell capacity to about 160 GWh. The automaker is building four more battery plants in the United States. It is not yet clear where this new plant will be built.
GM said production lines at its new plant will build “nickel-rich prismatic cells.” Prismatic and cylindrical cells are two of the three types of EV battery cells. General Motors’ Ultium battery platform currently uses a third style — the pouch — for most of its vehicles.