On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would be providing Ultium Cells with $2.5 billion in loans to build battery cell manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.
The lithium-ion battery cell facilities are expected to create more than 11,000 jobs (6,000 in construction and 5,100 in operations) and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign-made electric vehicle technologies. Ultium Cells LLC is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution.
The investment supports President Joe Biden’s American Battery Materials Initiative, which would build out the battery mineral and material supply chain. The latest loan closing will directly support the President’s goals to have electric vehicles make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 and for the country to reach net zero emission by 2050.
“DOE is flooring the accelerator to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home—and that starts with domestic battery manufacturing led by American workers and the unions that support them,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This loan will jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand and support President Biden’s goals of widespread EV adoption and cutting carbon pollution produced by gas-powered vehicles.”
The batteries are large format, pouch-type cells that use state-of-the-art chemistry to provide clean, reliable energy. Ultium Cells plans to use the technology in coordination with GM’s work to eliminate 100 percent of tailpipe emissions from its new U.S. light-duty vehicles by 2035. The facilities will also support GM’s plans to install capacity to produce more than one million EVs annually in North America and make its global operations carbon neutral by 2040.