Dive Brief:
- Hyundai Motor Group and battery maker SK On finalized plans for a $5 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Bartow County, Georgia, the automaker announced Tuesday.
- The boards of Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp. and Hyundai Mobis approved the joint venture, in which Hyundai and its battery partner will each take a 50% stake in the investment to supply the automaker’s U.S. production facilities.
- The facility is expected to start making battery cells to support production of 300,000 all-electric Hyundai, Kia and Genesis vehicles yearly by the second half of 2025.
Dive Insight:
Hyundai is working to secure a stable supply of batteries as it builds out its EV production capabilities in the U.S.
The automaker signed a memorandum of understanding for an EV production facility with SK On in November, the month after breaking ground in Savannah, Georgia, on its first dedicated EV campus in the U.S.
The MOU will allow Hyundai to accelerate production in the burgeoning North American EV market, Heung-soo Kim, the automaker’s head of corporate future growth planning and EV divisions, said in November.
“We expect the stable supply of EV batteries from SK On will also enable us to contribute to emissions reduction and meet climate goals in the market,” said Kim, who is also executive vice president.
The Bartow County facility is strategically located within a couple hundred miles of the Hyundai operations it is intended to supply, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Kia Georgia and Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America.
“Hyundai Motor Group and SK On are valued partners and key players in our state’s ever-growing automotive industry,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a Dec. 8 statement when the partners selected Bartow County for the facility.
SK On subsidiary SK Battery America recently exceeded its hiring goal of 2,600 workers for two Georgia facilities that will manufacturer batteries for Ford and Volkswagen’s EVs.
