Chrysler parent Stellantis will build its next electric vehicle battery plant in Indiana, where the automaker has several facilities, according to a source and a published report.
The automaker is planning an announcement on Tuesday on “future plans” for its Kokomo operations with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and the company’s chief operating officer for North America, Mark Stewart, who are among several officials slated to attend.
A source with knowledge of the plans confirmed that the automaker has chosen Indiana for the EV battery plant in the United States. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
In October, Stellantis and South Korea’s Samsung SDI announced plans for a joint venture on an EV battery plant. Reuters reported Monday that Samsung is partnering on the project.
The news service reported that “President Joe Biden at a visit to Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea on Friday highlighted the planned investment, saying ‘Samsung will also be working with Stellantis on a joint venture to build a new facility in the United States that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.'”
The news marks the second announcement for a battery plant in North America by Stellantis.
In March, Stellantis and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution said they would invest $4 billion to build an EV battery plant in Windsor, Ontario. That is slated to be the first large-scale EV battery plant in Canada with a promise of 2,500 new jobs.
Stewart said then that the company’s next plant would be located in the United States. Production for the Stellantis/Samsung plant is expected to be targeted for 2025. The batteries would power a range of vehicles from plug-in hybrids to full battery-electric vehicles, according to Stellantis, which formed last year from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot maker PSA Group.
Stellantis has moved quickly in recent months to bolster its electrification plans. The company has it would spend $35 billion (30 billion euros) in electrification and related software investments through 2025 and that more than 40% of sales in the United States and 70% of sales in Europe would be low-emission vehicles by 2030.
An electric Dodge muscle car and Ram 1500 pickup are planned for 2024.
The announcement on the battery plant follows a $229 million pledge by Stellantis in October to retool Kokomo Transmission, Kokomo Casting and Indiana Transmission to produce a new fourth-generation, eight-speed transmission that could eventually appear in electrified Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles.
The selection of Indiana for the battery plant indicates Michigan lost out despite assurances from the head of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. in March that the state was competing aggressively.
Following the Stellantis announcement on the Windsor battery plant, MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. said that Michigan’s economic development infrastructure is better prepared than it has been in the past to help secure such investments.
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“Michigan is competing aggressively for opportunities. I think it would be premature for me or anybody else to comment on what Stellantis is going to do. They will make their decision. We feel good about our positioning,” Messer said at the time. “It’s multiple opportunities. Stellantis will have at least two to three additional opportunities, and we’re competing aggressively.”
During an event on May 5 in Detroit, Stewart, the chief operating officer for Stellantis in North America, was asked about Michigan’s chances at securing the second electric vehicle battery plant, and at that point, he said Michigan was “still in play.”
He would not comment, however, on whether Michigan had a “strong case.”
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.