General Motors is moving closer to confirming its fourth battery manufacturing site in the United States, this time located in Indiana and set to be established with Samsung SDI.
County officials recently approved a development agreement and tax abatement with GM for the project just outside of New Carlisle. While the county had previously reached a deal with GM for the site last year, that was when the factory was going to be established alongside battery supplier LG Chem. However, talks fell through on what would have been the fourth factory established by GM and LG Chem in the United States, prompting the car manufacturer to look for a new battery partner for this site.
Read: GM And Samsung Joining Forces To Build Massive EV Battery Plant In The U.S.
Auto News reports that GM has proposed spending as much as $3.5 billion on the battery plant and says it will have around 1,600 full-time employees by the end of 2027 earning an average of $24 per hour. Interestingly, a GM spokesperson says that a final decision on the location of the factory has yet to be made.
It is understood that St. Joseph County has offered to eliminate real property taxes for 10 years and personal property taxes for 15 years. In exchange, GM would pay $4.5 million annually for a decade toward infrastructure costs.
“Samsung SDI and General Motors are developing a competitive business case for a battery cell manufacturing plant that could be located in New Carlisle, Ind.,” GM added in a statement. “As part of that work, we submitted a tax abatement application with St. Joseph County, which was approved [Tuesday]. We appreciate the local support as the joint venture works to make a location decision.”
The car manufacturer’s fourth battery plant will produce prismatic and cylindrical battery cells. It will help it achieve around 160 gigawatt-hours of battery cell capacity in the United States when the plant reaches full capacity. GM hopes to begin production of the new factory in the fourth quarter of this year and finish by the end of 2027.
