Stellantis and Samsung Pick Indiana for First Joint Battery Plant in the U.S.
Stellantis and Samsung SDI have chosen Kokomo, Indiana, to build a second lithium-ion battery cell and module plant with 1,400 new employees in North America to support plans for a growing portfolio of electric vehicles. The $2.5 billion plant will have an initial capacity of 23 gigawatt hours when it begins production in 2025, and is designed to expand to 33 gigawatt hours in the next few years, bringing the investment level to $3.1 billion. Construction will begin later this year.
The Kokomo location places the battery plant near five Stellantis engine, transmission, and casting plants which are already preparing for electric vehicles. Kokoma is the final site of five global gigafactories that Stellantis promised a year ago. It is the first for the U.S. and second in North America, said Stellantis North America chief operating officer Mark Stewart.
The announcement comes on the heels of the March news that the joint venture partners will build a $4.1 billion 45-gigawatt battery plant in Windsor, Ontario. That plant is scheduled to open in 2024 and supply Stellantis with batteries for vehicles produced in Canada and the U.S.
The investment is part of Dare Forward 2030, Stellantis’ strategic plan to transition to a world of electric vehicles. Stellantis has 19 battery-electric vehicles on the market globally today, but none are in North America. The only electrified vehicle on sale on this continent are the Chrysler Pacifica and Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids with the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe PHEV launching this month.
Stellantis is investing $35 billion through 2025 in electrification and is committed to adding 25 pure EVs in the U.S. by 2030, at which point the automaker expects global annual sales of 5 million EVs accounting for all vehicles sold in Europe and half of those sold in North America.