GM and LG Chem invest $2.3 billion in u.S. electric vehicle battery plant

General Motors and South Korean LG Chem said Thursday (5) that they will invest $2.3 billion in a battery cell plant in the Electric Vehicle Joint Venture in Ohio, creating one of the world's largest battery facilities. The plant, to be built at a new location near GM's assembly plant in Lordstown, northeast Ohio, will employ more than 1,100 people, the companies said. Construction will begin in mid-2020 and will have an annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt-hours with flexibility to expand. At a news conference, Chief Executive Mary Barra said the joint venture with LG Chem aims to "dramatically improve the accessibility and profitability of electric vehicles." Barra said the investment in the plant will accelerate the automaker's initiative to introduce 20 new electric vehicles worldwide by 2023. "General Motors believes in global warming science and a totally electric future," she said. Barra said the new battery cells will be used in a new GM electric pickup truck, which will begin production in the fall of 2021 at the company's Detroit-Hamtramck plant. The Ohio battery cell plant will increase LG Chem's overall battery capacity to 100 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2020, said Hak-Cheol Shin, chief executive of LG Chem.