LG Energy Solution, a supplier for electric car makers Tesla and Lucid, said it plans to invest 1.7 trillion Korean won ($1.4 billion) to build a battery factory in Arizona by 2024 to meet demand from prominent startups and other North American customers.
This will be LG Energy Solution’s first U.S. factory to make cylindrical cells, a type of battery that has been used in Tesla and Lucid vehicles, LGES said. LG Energy Solution will start construction in the second quarter of 2022. LG Energy Solution is planning to start mass production in 2024 with annual production capacity of 11 gigawatt hours.
Earlier, Reuters reported that potential customers of LG Energy Solution would include EV makers Tesla, Lucid and Proterra and Philip Morris, maker of IQOS heated-tobacco sticks, among others.
LG Energy Solution said in a news statement that it plans to consider securing additional production capacity at its Arizona factory in the future.
Panasonic, a Tesla supplier, along with Contemporary Amperex Technology, is also looking to invest to build a factory to make a new type of electric vehicle (EV) battery for Tesla, public broadcaster NHK reported this month.
Panasonic is looking at building the factory in either Oklahoma or Kansas, not far from Tesla’s new Texas vehicle plant, NHK reported.
LG Energy Solution, which raised more than $10 billion in its initial public offering in Korea in January, has announced a flurry of battery joint ventures with GM and Stellantis in the United States and Canada.
In August, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric.
Image Caption: LG Energy Solution Presents Innovative Battery Technology and ESG Initiatives at InterBattery 2021