Stellantis STLA and Samsung SDI announced to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing plant in Kokomo, IN, as part of the StarPlus Energy joint venture (JV). This will be their second EV battery facility in the United States. Globally, this will be Stellantis’ sixth battery plant. The JV will invest more than $3.2 billion in the new battery plant, bringing the total investment in both Kokomo-located facilities to more than $6.3 billion.
The second StarPlus Energy plant will have an annual capacity of 34 gigawatt hours (GWh) and is expected to start production in early 2027. The first StarPlus Energy plant with an annual production capacity of 33 GWh is already under construction and on track to begin production by the first quarter of 2025.
The announcement came amid the United Auto Workers’ (“UAW”) strike against the Detroit Three automakers. Stellantis and UAW are currently negotiating the contract terms.
The union alleged that the automakers formed JVs with battery manufacturers to cast the union out of the new factories. The automakers’ agreements with the union do not cover the JV-owned battery plants. However, the union wants to protect its members through agreements as the industry transitions to EVs.
General Motors GM recently agreed to include battery cell workers in its national agreement. Shawn Fain, president of UAW, called the proposal a win and expects Stellantis and Ford to follow GM’s lead.
Stellantis refused to disclose the details of the ongoing negotiation.
The EV battery plants play a crucial role in the production of electric versions of the Ram pickup truck and Dodge muscle car.
As a part of the Dare Forward 2030 plan, Stellantis aims to achieve a 100% EV sales mix in Europe and a 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by the end of the decade. Stellantis is securing approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity to achieve these targets, underpinned by six battery manufacturing plants in North America and Europe. All these investments will help the automotive manufacturer reduce its carbon footprint to half by 2030 compared with 2021 and achieve carbon net zero by 2038.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
STLA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked players in the auto space are Adient plc ADNT and Magna International Inc. MGA. ADNT currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and MGA carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADNT’s 2023 sales and earnings indicates year-over-year rises of 9.1% and 1,790.9%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2023 and 2024 have increased by 15 cents in the past 60 days. The EPS estimate for 2024 has moved up by a cent in the past seven days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MGA’s 2023 sales and earnings implies year-over-year growth of 13% and 31.2%, respectively. The EPS estimate for 2023 has moved north by 8 cents in the past 60 days. The EPS estimate for 2024 has moved up by 14 cents in the past 90 days.
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