Hyundai, LG to spend $2 billion more on Georgia battery plant

(C) Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Hyundai logo is seen during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution will boost their joint investment in a Georgia battery manufacturing plant by $2 billion and add 400 additional jobs, the companies and the state said Thursday.

The facility, a joint venture between the two companies, now includes a total investment of $4.3 billion and eventually will be able to produce about 300,000 electric vehicle batteries annually, the companies said.

Hyundai, the world’s third-largest automaker by vehicle sales, said the two companies now plan to spend a total of $7.59 billion and create 8,500 new jobs over eight years in Bryan County, Georgia.

That figure includes the battery plant, which has an annual production capacity of 30 gigawatt hours (GWh), as well as a separate electrical-vehicle manufacturing plant.

The auto manufacturing plant is scheduled to begin producing vehicles in January 2025 and will build 300,000 vehicles annually.

The two manufacturing facilities, known collectively as the “Metaplant,” have been incentivized by $7,500 consumer tax credits in the 2022 U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which require electric vehicles to be manufactured in the United States and sets new sourcing requirements for critical minerals and battery components.

The law also includes hefty U.S. battery production tax credits.

Auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis will assemble battery packs using cells from the plant, then supply them to Hyundai Motor (OTC:HYMTF) manufacturing facilities in the United States for production of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis electric vehicles.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said the state has attracted multiple suppliers to support the facility.

Last year, Hyundai global chief operating officer Jose Munoz said the Georgia plant could eventually produce 500,000 vehicles annually, if demand warrants.

Hyundai Motor in April said it had finalized a separate $5 billion electric vehicle battery joint venture in the U.S. with partner SK On, a battery unit of SK Innovation Co.