South Korean automobile giant Hyundai Motors has announced that it has teamed up with LG Energy Solution to set up an EV battery plant in the United States. According to information released by the partners, the electric battery cell manufacturing joint venture (JV) will be set up in Bryan County of Savannah in the U.S. state of Georgia.

The 50/50 EV battery JV will be adjacent to the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, which is still under construction. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an intention to build the plant has already been signed. The capacity of the battery plant has been reported at 30- gigawatt-hour (GWh), and it will require a hefty investment of more than $4.3 billion (approx. KRW 5.7 trillion).

If everything goes as planned, construction of the battery plant should begin sometime in the second half (H2) of this year. production of battery cells for the group’s EVs is expected to start before the end of 2025.

The aforementioned annual capacity of 30-GWh will likely be sufficient for as many as 300,000 EVs, which indicates roughly 100-kWh per battery pack on average. Jaehoon Chang, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement that the signing of the new MOU for establishing a new battery cell JV is part of the company’s increasing focus on electrification of its vehicles.

Speaking on the topic, Chang said, “Hyundai Motor Group is focusing on its electrification efforts to secure a leadership position in the global auto industry. We will create a strong foundation to lead the global EV transition through establishing a new EV battery cell plant with LG Energy Solution, a leading global battery producer and long-time partner”.

For his part, LG Energy Solution CEO Youngsoo Kwon said the two strong leaders in the auto and battery industries have joined hands to drive the EV transition in America.

It is worth-mentioning here that it is not the first of its kind agreement for Hyundai Motor Group as the South Korea-based automobile giant struck a similar deal with SK Innovation-owned battery producer SK On. Under the terms of that deal, a 35-GWh battery JV will be set up in Bartow Centre, Georgia.

Battery packs from the two battery plants, which will be assembled by Hyundai Mobis, will be supplied to the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America plant as well as some of the group and other manufacturing facilities.