Stellantis and Samsung SDI plant to invest as much as $3 billion to build a new EV battery plant in central Indiana.
Mark Stewart, Stellantis chief operating officer, said the investment will create 1,400 jobs around Kokomo, Indiana, where the company now has four engine and transmission plants, and is part of the company’s broad push into electrification under the Dare Forward 2030 plan the automaker outlined in early March.
Construction of the new battery plant will begin soon, and it will supply battery modules for a range of vehicles produced at Stellantis’ North American assembly plants, Stewart said. Operations should begin in the first quarter of 2025, officials noted.
EV batteries go to Kokomo
With the announcement in Kokomo, Stellantis has begun work on a total of five plants to supply to batteries for the EVs in the years to come, Stewart added.
The plant will be Stellantis’ second battery plant in North America, he added. In March, the automaker announced plants to construct a battery plant in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit. The plant has been held up, according to The Windsor Star, by concerns about whether the electricity to run the site can be found in Ontario.
Stellantis officials have not commented publicly on the issues surrounding the Windsor site, but they did note obliquely they have been assured by Indiana officials there would be ample electric power for the Kokomo site, revealing during the program one of the utilities supporting the project was preparing to develop an 800-acre solar array.
New plant to play key role in company’s future
The Kokomo plant aims to have an initial annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours, with plans to increase the total to 33 GWh in the years following. The total capacity would increase further as demand for Stellantis electric vehicles is expected to rise.
Stewart noted in North America, Stellantis is planning to launch 25 new battery-electric vehicles by 2030 when half of the company’s production will be dedicated to BEVS.
The company’s plug-in hybrids, such as the Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jeep Wrangler, which are capable of running for long periods on battery power alone, are top sellers in their segments, Stewart added. The Wrangler PHEV is sold out, he noted, adding Stellantis is bringing a second electrified Jeep, the Grand Cherokee PHEV, to the market shortly.
Yoonho Choi, chief executive officer of Samsung SDI, said Samsung SDI will be applying its “cutting-edge” technology to producing EV battery cells and modules for the North American market. Samsung has launched its premium battery technology brand Primx as an industry’s first last year and unveiled the brand at CES 2022 in January.
