SK to build US EV battery plant

South Korea's SK Innovation plans to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant near Atlanta, providing a North American starting point for a business that the company projects will grow elevenfold by 2022.

SK's board of directors yesterday approved investment of almost 1.4 trillion won ($1.24bn) for the new plant. The factory will be located in Commerce, Georgia, about 125km east of Atlanta. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year and to be completed in 2022.

The new plant will supply batteries for the North American EV business of German automaker Volkswagen under a strategic alliance that SK formed earlier this month. The factory's annual production capacity of 9.8GWh is more than double SK's current global battery capacity of 4.7GWh.

Volkswagen, whose US manufacturing base is in the neighbouring state of Tennessee, aims to introduce 50 new all-electric models across its various nameplates by 2025. Volkswagen targets global EV output of more than 1mn units annually during this period.

SK plans by 2022 to increase its annual EV battery output capacity to 55GWh, enough to supply nearly 1.9mn vehicles. The company raised its 2022 target to 55GWh from 20GWh after forming its partnership with Volkswagen. SK will join its South Korean rivals LG Chem and Samsung SDI in supplying batteries for Volkswagen EVs in Europe, starting next year.

Choosing a site in Georgia also will place SK's plant close to the US manufacturing bases of other major automakers, including BMW, Daimler, Volvo Cars, Nissan Motor, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors.

The number of EVs in use globally last year rose by 54pc to 3.1mn, with the IEA predicting that this will climb to about 125mn by 2030.