(Reuters) – General Motors Co plans to build a second battery factory in the United States with South Korean partner LG Chem Ltd, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The companies are close to completing the decision to locate the plant in Tennessee, the report said.
GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
LG Chem’s battery unit, LG Energy Solution, said in a statement that it is in talks to make further investments with GM, but cannot reveal the details.
“LG Energy Solution is also planning to expand additional capacity to other global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) located in the United States,” he said.
GM and LG Chem invested $ 2.3 billion to build a battery cell joint venture for electric vehicles in Ohio, creating one of the largest battery facilities in the world.
The plant, to be built near GM’s closed-assembly plant in Lordstown, will accelerate the automaker’s plan to introduce 30 new electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide by 2025.
GM CEO Mary Barra said the company wants to exceed its previous annual sales target of 1 million EVs in the United States and China by 2025.
Most battery manufacturing is currently concentrated in Asia and Europe, while Tesla Inc controls largely the majority of battery production in the United States.
(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Aditya Soni)