Stellantis plans to add a second electric vehicle battery plant in the United States in a joint venture with South Korea’s Samsung SDI.
The companies, in an announcement timed for Monday morning, said the location of the new plant is under review. They said in a news release that they signed a memorandum of understanding, but that the transaction is “subject to the execution of definitive documentation.”
The plant would be targeted to start production in 2027, according to the release.
The companies are already partnered on a plant in Kokomo, Indiana, and Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands, has a separate deal with LG Energy Solution on a battery plant in Windsor, Ontario. Construction on the Windsor plant had been stalled until recently over a dispute that’s since been resolved between Canadian officials and Stellantis over subsidies. The Kokomo plant, announced in May 2022, is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025.
The news on the upcoming plant follows comments that Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares made in France in May when he said that up to two additional large facilities are needed in the United States. Tavares made his comments in connection with the inauguration of a plant in Billy-Berclau Douvrin in northern France as part of a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies.
The new plant announcement, according to Tavares, would help the company meet its EV goals.
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“This new facility will contribute to reaching our aggressive target to offer at least 25 new battery electric vehicles for the North American market by the end of the decade,” Tavares said in the release. “We are continuing to add more capacity in the United States together with our great partner Samsung SDI and laying the next steps to reaching our carbon neutrality commitment by 2038.”
Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi said in the release that “by establishing the joint venture with Stellantis last year, we laid a solid groundwork for marking our presence in North America. The second plant will accelerate our market penetration into the U.S. and help Stellantis push forward the U.S. transition to an era of electric vehicles by supplying the products featuring the highest levels of safety and quality.”
The Free Press reported in April that Samsung SDI would also be partnering with General Motors on an EV battery plant.
Joint venture plants, while increasingly popular with automakers as they work toward their EV transition goals, have faced criticism from the UAW, which seeks to unionize the workers at those plants. UAW President Shawn Fain has said joint ventures are fine if the purpose is for technological reasons, but are problematic if the intent is to circumvent union protections and lower wages. The United Auto Workers union has been particularly critical of the wage scale at GM’s Ultium joint venture in Lordstown, Ohio.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.