In a significant turn of events for the world of battery electric vehicles, the US Energy Department has confirmed it will loan a General Motors and LG joint-venture US$2.5 billion.
Specifically, the Department of Energy says that the $2.5 billion is to be used to finance the construction of manufacturing facilities of lithium-ion battery cells, primarily for electric cars. GM has already committed billions in this field, creating over 8000 jobs in the process.
The capital is being lent to Ultium Cells LLC which has projects for manufacturing facilities in General Motors’s home ground of Michigan, as well as Ohio and Tennessee.
General Motors and LG have announced $7 billion of investment funds for the three battery-electric plants, with the first in Ohio expected to come online later next month and will employ 700 people.
The Tennessee plant is expected to begin pumping out lithium-ion cells later in 2023, with Michigan following suit in 2024.
The announcement of the loan comes as the US hopes to achieve a goal stated by President Biden to hit 50 per cent production of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030. Jigar Shah of the US Energy Department loan office is quoted in a Reuters report, saying:
“We have to have vehicle manufacturing capacity but also battery manufacturing capacity. This project provides one of the newest additions to battery manufacturing scale in this country.”
