The core team of production engineers and technicians now being hired at Stellantis NV’s joint-venture electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ontario, will receive the bulk of their training at LG Energy Solution’s largest lithium-ion battery plant in the world in Poland, the venture’s CEO told The Detroit News.
NextStar Energy, the joint venture between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, has kicked off the recruitment of 130 employees for its launch team at the $3.8 billion ($5 billion Canadian) facility, set to be the largest battery plant in North America announced so far from the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and other vehicles. Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024, despite delays created by halted construction from a dispute over federal incentives.
The plant will have more than 45 gigawatt hours of capacity to produce hundreds of millions of nickel-manganese-cobalt battery units, NextStar Energy CEO Danies Lee said, and employ 2,500 people.
Details on starting wages aren’t being provided at this time, Lee said, but compensation will be based on the skills and experience employees bring to the job. The United Auto Workers union in the United States has lambasted General Motors Co.’s Ultium Cells LLC joint-venture plant with LG Energy Solution in Warren, Ohio, for starting production associates at $16.50 per hour.
Lee declined to comment on the situation in the United States, but emphasized the role employees will partake in contributing to NextStar’s results.
“The working conditions that we are going to provide to our employee as an important asset that are critical to the success of our business — including working environment and compensation, benefits — that is something based upon what they deserve and what skills that they bring in and what they contribute to the company’s success,” Lee said. “To make sure that we maximize the company’s assets, we provide and we are developing the best working and great working conditions for the employee.”
Canadian autoworkers union Unifor has declared its intentions to organize the facility. Lee didn’t have details on how the union will be able to go about its efforts, such as using a card check system.
The launch staff will include 30 professionals focused on growing the business operations such as human resources and accounting. The other 100 represent the core team of production engineers and technicians who will travel overseas for the approximately four-month international training program starting in October. Locations include Poland, China and South Korea, according to a news release.
Most of the training, Lee said, will occur at LG Energy Solution Wrocław’s Biskupice Podgórne production plant, the world’s leading producer of batteries for the automotive sector, according to the company’s website. Current capacity is 70 gigawatt hours, and it employs more than 7,000 people.
Lee described the training as “expensive,” but valuable to ensure workers are ready for the start of production, with in-house experts to train the thousands of other employees who will be hired from now until 2025.
The Windsor plant is fully automated, Lee said, so employees will get experience with the hardware and software of the equipment from their time in Poland.
“Actual assembly of the product will be carried out by the machine itself,” Lee said, “and what human beings need to do is to make sure that machinery is working properly to produce quality product at scale.”
Electrode and cell technicians will be trained to have expertise in machine operations, troubleshooting, data analysis and process improvement, according to the job listing. Skilled technicians could have opportunities to be promoted to engineer.
Basic qualifications include a high school diploma or equivalent and the ability to work legally in Canada. Applicants also should have the ability to work up to 12 hours in a limited, noisy and dry space and lift up to 40 pounds. A college degree is preferred.
NextStar Energy’s career page also mentions health, dental and optical coverage; retirement, disability and life insurance plans; remote and hybrid options for certain positions; and career development opportunities.
The move to start hiring is a major step forward for the plant whose module production building’s construction had halted for seven weeks this year over a dispute between Stellantis and the Canadian government over incentives for the project. Construction resumed early this month after the federal government and the province of Ontario agreed to provide $11.4 billion ($15 billion Canadian) in tax breaks to match what the United States is offering in the legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Today’s announcement is yet another concrete example of how our investments are creating well-paying jobs in Ontario and beyond,” François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a statement. “It also marks an important step as we move towards zero-emissions vehicles while ensuring that the cars of the future are made right here in Canada. Our government will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen our economy, lead the global fight against climate change, and create well-paying jobs for generations to come.”
The construction halt resulted in a two-month delay for the module building, which is expected to push the start of production of the modules back from May 2024 to July, Lee said. Besides that, the project remains on track under its “tight and ambitious” timeline, he said. The company wants to have all 2,500 employees in place for full-scale production of the modules, electrodes and cells in early 2025. A recycling plan also is in progress.
Profitability is one of the goals for the site, Lee said, though as of now, there have been no discussions about a future for NextStar going public.
“Once we start over the next 12 months, there are a certain level of efficiency we are trying to target, and that is what we are shooting for, so that’s one of my keys as the CEO of the company, that’s my key performance index that I have to achieve,” he said. “That’s why we try to hire the people well ahead, so that they have a huge impact on the quality as well as efficiency of our production line.”
LG Energy Solution was involved in General Motors Co.’s 2021 recall of every Chevrolet Bolt it had produced because of a battery fire risk. Lee said NextStar’s safeguard is LGES’s proven history and what it has learned from the market to improve quality and production systems to produce batteries in Windsor.
In addition to financial results, efficiency and productivity will help to reduce the cost of the batteries that make up the bulk of an EV’s price so they can be more affordable for customers. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has said EVs are 40% more expensive to produce than an internal combustion engine vehicle and that the automaker and its suppliers must absorb the increase to avoid shrinking the new-car market. Tavares also says Stellantis has secured raw materials through 2027 to produce its batteries.
Lee says with its batteries slotted to go into several Stellantis vehicle programs built in North America — models that he didn’t specify — he doesn’t have doubts about the demand for NextStar’s products. Technology disruptors often struggle to hit 5% market penetration, he said, but EVs now are heading toward 10% of U.S. new-vehicle sales.
“The market share is now accelerating,” he said. “I know there is a certain worry about the growth of the EV market, but I think there is a fully established market, where technology has been experienced on their way to further growth.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @BreanaCNoble