St. Joseph County considered for major EV battery plant
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A massive electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant could be coming to St. Joseph County, Inside INdiana Business confirmed Thursday. Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution, has filed a tax abatement application with the county for a facility in New Carlisle that – based on its investments in similar projects elsewhere – could bring over $2 billion in investment and more than 1,000 jobs to northern Indiana.
In a statement Thursday, Ultium spokesperson Brooke Waid confirmed the company is “developing a competitive business case for a potential large investment that could be located in New Carlisle” and that the tax abatement application was filed.
“Ultium Cells, with the support of GM officials, are in discussions with the appropriate local officials on the abatement application,” Waid said. “We look forward to the application being reviewed and hopefully approved later this month. Securing an approved tax abatement is a critical step of the project moving forward. We are not going to disclose any additional details of the projects than those included in the abatement application.”
Waid did not immediately return a request for more information from Inside INdiana Business. If approved, the project would be built in the Indiana Enterprise Center development area near New Carlisle.
In an email to Inside INdiana Business, Indiana Economic Development Corp. spokesperson Erin Sweitzer said, “We look forward to continuing to work with [Ultium Cells] through this process and sharing more details as we’re able.”
While specifics of the abatement request are not yet known, Ultium Cells is currently developing three other manufacturing plants in Warren, Ohio; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Lansing, Michigan.
Ultium is investing $2.3 billion in the Ohio and Tennessee plants and $2.6 billion in the Michigan plant. Each facility is slated to be 2.8 million square feet in size and employ between 1,100 and 1,700 workers.
In July, the U.S. Department of Energy approved a $2.5 billion loan for Ultium to build the facilities.
The loan would be the first exclusively for a battery cell manufacturing project under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which provides loans to support U.S. manufacturing of light-duty vehicles, qualifying components and materials that improve fuel economy, the Energy Department said.
The St. Joseph County Council will consider the abatement request at its meeting next Tuesday. Inside INdiana Business will have more information as it becomes available.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.