South Korean battery maker LG Chem Co. will set up a 2.7 trillion won ($2.27 billion) joint venture in Ohio with General Motors to supply batteries for the auto giant’s next generation of electric vehicles.

The two companies agreed to each put up 1 trillion won in the 50-50 joint venture to build a battery cell factory in the Lordstown area of northeast Ohio, LG Chem said Thursday during a briefing at GM’s global tech center in Michigan.

Construction of the plant, whose annual capacity is expected to be more than 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh), is scheduled to start in mid-2020.

The new factory will exclusively supply battery cells for GM vehicles for now but could provide batteries to other automakers in the future, according to GM.

LG Chem shares were trading 1.53 percent higher at 298,000 won as of 9:34 a.m. Friday.

LG Chem had been the exclusive battery supplier for GM’s first plug-in hybrid vehicle Chevrolet Volt since its launch 2009. It currently provides battery cells for the Chevrolet Bolt EV.

“The new facility will help us scale production and dramatically enhance EV profitability and affordability,” GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra told reporters Thursday.

“We are still on track to have about 20 electric vehicles globally by 2023,” she said, adding “We believe by working together we`ll accelerate and get to industry-leading cost levels.”

“The joint venture that we are signing today is more than just a collaboration,” Shin Hak-cheol, vice chairman and chief executive of LG Chem, said at the briefing. “It marks the beginning of a great journey that will create an emission-free society and transform the global automotive market into an eco-friendly era.”

The Ohio plant would be LG Chem’s second production facility in the United States. Its first one in Holland, Michigan started operation in 2012 and now boasts an annual capacity of 5GWh.

With the completion of the Ohio factory, LG Chem would have seven manufacturing bases across China, Europe and the U.S. Two would be joint ventures and five fully-owned plants.

LG Chem currently has an annual battery capacity of 70GWh worldwide. It plans to ramp this up to 100GWh by 2020, and reach 30 trillion won in battery sales by 2024.

By Pulse

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