LG: Building a $4.3B Electric Battery Factory in the US

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) have just announced that they will build a $4.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the state of Georgia.

The two companies signed the memorandum of understanding at a signing ceremony at LGES headquarters in Seoul.

The two companies will jointly open a 50/50 new battery plant in Bryan County, south of Savannah. It will be near the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, which is under construction.

The annual production capacity of Hyundai and LG’s new battery plant is 30 GWh and will be able to support the production of 300,000 vehicles per year.

The Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides a $7,500 tax credit for electrical appliances that meet domestic manufacturing requirements — and that includes their batteries — as well as incentives for companies to build auto manufacturing hubs, batteries and clean energy.

But Hyundai electric vehicles, including the Kia and Genesis EV models, are currently not eligible for this tax credit. So the two companies decided to make their last joint industrial investment in the United States.

According to the Financial Times, Georgia is second in the United States, behind South Carolina, in new investments as a result of the IRA production incentive.

Construction of the Bryan County battery plant will begin in the second half of 2023, and battery production is expected to begin in late 2025 at the earliest. The investment is expected to create 3,000 jobs.