Stellantis plans second american battery plant

The maker of Jeep SUVs and Ram pickup trucks on Friday announced plans for a second joint venture to build a second battery plant in North America — this time with Samsung SDI.

Stellantis NV and the Korean manufacturer said, after entering into a memorandum of understanding that is subject to regulatory approvals, they are planning for a launch of production starting in 2025. The lithium-ion battery plant will have an initial annual capacity of 23 gigawatt hours with the ability to increase that to 40 gigawatt hours in the future.

The site for production of hybrid and EV batteries for assembly plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico is under review. The automaker declined to address whether it could be in Michigan. The quasi-governmental Michigan Economic Development Corp. earlier this week said it’s engaged in ongoing communications with automakers and battery suppliers about their future electrification strategy and opportunities in Michigan but that it would be premature to discuss any potential future plans.

The newly announced plant’s maximum capacity would be in line with the lithium-ion battery plant Stellantis announced on Monday it will operate with LG Energy Solution in North America. The plans suggest the transatlantic automaker, which currently offers no full EVs in the United States, is accelerating its transformation toward electrified vehicles from its EV Day plans shared in July, when it said it would invest $35.5 billion in electrification by 2025, with its first North American battery plant opening by 2025 and its second by 2030.