Wave of New Battery, EV Factories Come to U.S. Southeast

By Christian Roselund

Late October and November 2022 have seen a wave of new EV, battery, and battery component factory announcements in Georgia and Tennessee. This includes the groundbreaking on Hyundai’s $5.54 billion manufacturing complex in Georgia, LG Chem’s announcement of the nation’s largest cathode factory in Tennessee, and additional battery and supply chain announcements. Many of these announcements are explicitly tied to the availability of new incentives through the Inflation Reduction Act, both on the production side and the consumer side.

As the first of these, on 25 October 2022 Hyundai broke ground on its 11.8 square kilometer EV and battery “Metaplant” in Bryan County, Georgia. The new factory will make an estimated 300,000 Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia EVs each year after it comes online in the first half of 2025. This is about half the number of EVs that were sold of all models in the United States in 2021. Hyundai has not disclosed the battery partner for the plant, or other details about battery production, but has estimated that the entire project will create 8,100 jobs.

This was followed by two related factory announcements within the month. As the first, on 7 November 2022 a subsidiary of automotive body part and electronics manufacturer Ajin USA has announced that it will invest $317 million in a factory in Bulloch County, Georgia. And on 23 November, Hyundai Mobis announced that it will invest $926 million into a plant in Bryan County to make power electric systems and charging control units. The Hyundai Mobis plant will begin construction in January 2023 and is expected to open in 2024. Both the Aijin and Mobix plants will supply the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County.

Meanwhile, on 11 November Norway’s Freyr Battery announced that it will invest more than $2.6 billion into a new plant in Georgia’s Coweta County to make battery cells for stationary energy storage, electric mobility, and other applications. The first $1.7 billion phase of production will have an output of 34 gigawatt-hours per year. Freyr has stated that it intends to apply to the U.S. Department of Energy for packages that could include a grant and/or a direct loan.

Finally, in Tennessee LG Chem announced on 22 November that it will establish the nation’s largest cathode plant for US EV batteries. The Korean conglomerate plans to invest more than $3 billion to build a plant near Clarksville to make 120,000 tons of cathode material by 2027, enough to power 1.2 million electric vehicles. This is roughly double the volume of the entire US EV market in 2021.

LG’s cathodes will be based on nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum (NCMA) chemistry, which provides additional cycling stability for a longer life as well as greater thermal stability than standard nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistries. However, the use of cobalt could become a problem in the future. This mineral was identified by the U.S. Department of Labor in a September report as being associated with child labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most of the world’s cobalt is mined.

LG Chem says that its new 1.7 square kilometer factory will operate on 100% renewable energy from solar and hydroelectric sources. The company states that it chose the site due to proximity to key customers, ease of transporting raw materials, and the “active cooperation of the state and local governments.” LG Chem has additionally cited the role of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Construction on LG’s cathode factory is set to begin in the first quarter of 2023, with mass production to begin in the second half of 2025.

Press release: Gov. Kemp, Hyundai Motor Group Execs Break Ground at Georgia’s Bryan County Megasite (Georgia Governor Brian Kemp)

Press release: Gov. Kemp: First Hyundai Motor Group Supplier to Build Facility in Bulloch County (Georgia Governor Brian Kemp)

Press release: Gov. Kemp: Second Global Automotive Supplier for Hyundai Metaplant To Create 1,500 Jobs (Georgia Governor Brian Kemp)

Press release: FREYR Battery Announces Plans for U.S. Gigafactory in Georgia (Freyr Battery)

Press release: LG Chem to Establish Largest Cathode Plant in US for EV Batteries (LG Chem)