- It had initially announced a $1.67 billion investment at the Georgia site
- The Georgia site will join facilities in Europe and Asia after both the plants are complete in 2023
SK Innovation announced that it plans to invest a total of $2.5 billion in its U.S. battery business to build two plants at its site in Commerce with a combined annual capacity of 21.5 GWh. It will be done after following approval by the SK Innovation Board of Directors to fund the start of construction of a second electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia.
It had initially announced a $1.67 billion investment at the Georgia site, but the board’s decision will expand the company’s U.S. investment plans to help meet consumers’ demand for EVs in the U.S.
SK Innovation CEO Jun Kim said, “While the global community faces challenging times, SK Innovation believes it is important to continue making strategic investments to drive economic growth and meaningful change. With this investment, SK Innovation’s battery business will significantly contribute to not only the local Georgia economy but the development of the U.S. EV industry value chain and ecosystem.”
Begin mass production in 2022
SK Innovation broke ground on the first plant at the Georgia site in March 2019. It is expected that it will begin mass production in 2022. It is also expected that the construction on its second plant will begin in July at the same site with mass production to start in 2023. It said that it could invest as much as $5 billion in its U.S. battery business and create around 6,000 jobs.
The Georgia site will join facilities in Europe and Asia after both the plants are complete in 2023. This will take SK Innovation a projected annual global capacity of 71 GWh.
