LG will construct North America's largest battery factory

Latest developments of the LG battery factory

According to reports, LG will invest 7.2 trillion won (about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the construction of a large-scale battery manufacturing park in Arizona to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles. LG claims that this factory will be the largest independent battery production plant built by a global company in North America, and will occupy an absolute advantage in the core strategic market North America.

According to LG, the large-scale battery manufacturing park will have an annual production capacity of 43GWh, of which the cylindrical battery factory will have an annual production capacity of 27GWh and the lithium iron phosphate battery factory will have an annual production capacity of 16GWh. As one of the top 10 cylindrical battery manufacturers in the world, LG has a high annual output of cylindrical batteries.

Specifically, LG will invest 4.2 trillion won (about 3.256 billion U.S. dollars) to build a cylindrical battery factory with an annual production capacity of 27GWh, which is enough to power 350,000 electric vehicles per year. mass production began.

LG also plans to invest 3 trillion won (about 2.325 billion U.S. dollars) to build a battery factory for energy storage systems (ESS) at the same address for the production of soft-pack lithium iron phosphate batteries independently developed by the company. It is 16.3GWh, and it is planned to start mass production in 2026.

LG’s previous battery factory layout

LG has established battery factories in South Korea, the United States, China, Poland, Indonesia and Canada, with a total annual production capacity of 200GWh.

Due to surging global demand, the company’s order backlog will reach 385 trillion won by the end of 2022. LG aims to expand its global production capacity to 300GWh by the end of 2023. The pace of global expansion of LG continues to accelerate.

LG shipments and major customers

LG is mainly divided into two product lines. The main customers of soft packs are General Motors, Hyundai Motor Group, Renault, Ford, Volkswagen, Porsche and Volvo, which supply batteries to several major automakers.

The cylindrical product line is currently 21700, which is mainly supplied to Tesla’s long battery life version, and the next development direction is mainly 4680 series products. LG is still working on the next generation of 4680 products even though it is one of the top 10 4680 battery manufacturers in the world.

LG production capacity layout

LG expands production capacity from three regions and different application directions. LG plans to steadily expand production capacity in North America and accelerate market dominance.

North America: GM’s joint venture plant in Ohio has started production, and the plant in Tennessee will begin operation.

Europe: The production capacity of pouch battery in Poland is expected to expand to 90GWh.

Asia: It is the construction of cylindrical and pouch battery capacity, which is expected to reach 155GWh.

Why does LG want to build a factory in the United States?

The opening of the LG battery factory proves that lithium battery technology is becoming increasingly mature and can realize industrial production.

Currently, the market demand for electric vehicles and energy storage systems is increasing rapidly.The plant’s massive capacity will help address the current shortage of batteries for electric vehicles and home energy storage.

Additionally, the plant’s location in Ohio is strategic because of its proximity to major automakers and renewable energy projects in the area.This will enable the rapid supply of batteries to these companies, further accelerating the production of electric vehicle batteries and the adoption of renewable energy.

The North American market is an opportunity for LG. North America firmly occupies the first place in the export market. Whether it is purchasing power, penetration rate of Internet users, and system perfection, it is the highest in the world. LG has the opportunity to gain new customer groups and application scenarios in North America.