South Korean battery producer LG Energy Solution (LGES) has started production at its lithium-ion battery-cell plant in Lansing, Michigan.
The Lansing plant has a cell making capacity of 35 GWh/yr, producing lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cells for energy storage systems (ESS) and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells for electric vehicles (EV), the company said on 18 August. LGES did not provide a breakdown of LFP and NMC capacity.
Detroit-based utility DTE Energy will use cells built in Lansing in its ESS projects. LGES will supply 6GWh of cells for eight DTE projects over two years.
The plant's NMC output is earmarked for Japanese carmaker Toyota, which will use the cells in battery EVs, including the 2027 Highlander EV, assembled at a Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky.
The Lansing plant is LGES' second in Michigan, joining its longer established facility in Holland.
LGES plans to have more than 50GWh of LFP cell-making capacity in North America by the end of 2026 across three wholly owned plants — the Holland and Lansing plants in Michigan and NextStar Energy in Windsor, Ontario — and two joint ventures: L-H Battery in Jeffersonville, Ohio; and Ultium Cells 2 in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
About 80pc of the firm's global ESS capacity will be in North America by the end of this year, LGES said.
