Stellantis chooses Indiana for its $2.5 billion EV battery factory with Samsung

Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, has chosen Kokomo, Indiana as the site for its next electric vehicle battery factory. The plant will be built in partnership with South Korea's Samsung SDI, a leading EV battery manufacturer. The companies made the announcement Tuesday in Kokomo, along with Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and several other local officials.

The new facility will create 1,400 new jobs and will cost $2.5 billion to build, although Stelantis and Samsung are prepared to spend up to $3 billion on the project, Stellantis chief operating officer Mark Stewart said at a press conference. The cost will be split between the two companies.

Stellantis already operates a number of facilities in Kokomo, including plants for castings, transmissions and engines. The company said the addition of an EV battery factory will help the automaker accelerate the electrification of vast areas of its lineup. Stellantis previously announced that it would build a $4.1 billion EV battery plant with LG Energy Solutions in Windsor, Ontario.

Stelantis, which has been slower to adopt EVs than Ford and General Motors, has said it is targeting 5 million EV sales by 2030. The company, which is the world's fourth-largest automaker, announced a comprehensive plan last year. Electrify the lineup across most of its brands, including EV versions of the Ram 1500 pickup truck and the Dodge electric muscle car, as well as several Jeep models. Earlier this year, the company announced that Chrysler would only sell electric vehicles until 2028.

As the auto industry gradually moves towards electrification, there is an increasing need to expand battery manufacturing capacity. According to data and analytics company GlobalData, battery production globally is expected to increase from 95.3GWh in 2020 to 410.5GWh in 2024.