GM’s $3.5B Indiana EV Battery Plant Is Official–But Delayed

The joint venture between General Motors and Samsung SDI will manufacture prismatic cells for Ultium-based EVs.

GM Ultium platform with Samsung SDI prismatic batteries

Photo by: InsideEVs

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Aug 29, 2024 at 3:29am ET

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General Motors and Samsung SDI have finalized their joint venture to build and operate a new EV battery factory in Indiana.
Cell production is expected to begin in 2027, roughly one year later than initially anticipated.
The facility in South Carlisle is GM’s fourth EV cell factory in the United States.

General Motors and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI have finalized a deal to build a brand-new $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery factory in Indiana. Production at the new plant will start in 2027, roughly a year later than expected due to “market conditions and working out contract details”, but construction at the facility has already begun, according to The News-Gazette.

Despite the delay, the fact that the factory is being built and not canceled is a sign that GM is confident EVs will account for a big chunk of its sales in the near future, even as some competitors are scaling back their plans to roll out more battery-powered models. Contrary to the bombastic headlines claiming electric vehicles are doomed, sales are still growing, but not for everybody and not at the rate that some automakers predicted.

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The joint venture’s battery factory in New Carlisle, Indiana is located on a 680-acre site. It will manufacture nickel cobalt aluminum-based high-performance nickel-rich prismatic cells for Ultium-based EVs–which are different from the pouch cells currently used by GM–with an initial capacity of 27 gigawatt-hours and a maximum capacity of 36 gigawatt-hours per year.

The factory, which was announced last year, will create over 1,600 new jobs. The joint venture will receive local incentives from the local government for the following 10 years in the form of 100% tax abatement. Meanwhile, GM will pay a $4.5 million infrastructure fee per year for the next decade to cover costs associated with road improvements, new fiber optic cables and sewer extensions, according to The Detroit News.

Samsung SDI PRiMX batteries

Samsung SDI PRiMX prismatic batteries

The Indiana EV battery plant is GM’s fourth joint venture cell factory in the United States. The facilities in Lordstown, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tennessee are already churning out cells, while construction at the Lansing, Michigan site is still ongoing. While the Indiana plant will be built and run in collaboration with Samsung SDI, the other three facilities are LG Energy Solution partnerships. Stellantis also has a joint venture with Samsung SDI called StarPlus Energy which is building two cell gigafactories in Indiana.

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When the new facility in New Carlisle is operational, GM will have a maximum battery production capacity of 140 GWh per year in the U.S. Ford’s annual capacity is slated at 129 GWh once its three cell factories are up and running at full speed.

A previous version of this article stated that GM's joint venture with Samsung SDI in Indiana will manufacture nickel cadmium cells, which is incorrect. The factory will build nickel cobalt aluminum (NCA) cells. The article has been updated to reflect this change. We regret the error.

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