Ultium Cells receives $2.5bn loan for new battery manufacturing plants

Ultium Cells, a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, will manage battery cell production at the three facilities to address growing US consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

The project is expected to create over 11,000 jobs - 6,000 in construction and 5,100 in operations - across the three facilities.

In July, 2022 the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for the loan to Ultium Cells to manufacture large format, pouch-type cells that use advanced chemistry to deliver more range at less cost. Those cells can be arranged in different combinations for use in pickups, SUVs and other family vehicles, plus luxury and commercial vehicles.

Ultium Cells plans to use this technology in coordination with GM’s work to eliminate all tailpipe emissions from its new US light-duty vehicles by 2035. This also supports GM’s plans to install capacity to produce more than one million EVs annually in North America and make its global products and operations carbon neutral by 2040.

EVs are expected to make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 and in October, 2022 president Joe Biden launched the American Battery Materials Initiative, alongside $2.8bn in grants from the US Department of Energy, to bolster the battery mineral and material supply chain.

“DOE is flooring the accelerator to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home - and that starts with domestic battery manufacturing led by American workers and the unions that support them,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement. “This loan will jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand and support president Biden’s goals of widespread EV adoption and cutting carbon pollution produced by gas-powered vehicles.”