Major car manufacturers have announced USA Battery gigafactories over the past 6 months. It takes a few years to build a factory, and then they need to have the supply of materials such as lithium.
- Existing factories provide enough batteries for about 5m vehicles
- Newly announced factories could provide enough batteries for a further 10m vehicles
- Given the existing vehicle demand is for 20 million cars a year, this suggests that 75% of all new cars could be electric by 2025 / 2026.
- There is a demand for batteries in other applications. Trucks consume 10x more than cars. Stationary storage requires TWh needed by 2030. These manufacturers will have more demand than supply.
Update Sept 2023
The onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs started as a trickle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it’s a tsunami. In 2019, just two battery factories were operating in the United States with another two under construction. Today there are about 30 battery factories either planned, under construction or operational in the country. (TechCrunch)
The IRA requires that 60% of the value of battery components be produced or assembled in North America in 2024 to qualify for half of the tax credit, $3,750. That percentage will increase to 100% starting in 2029. To get the remaining half, 50% of the value of critical materials must be sourced from the U.S. or a free trade agreement country in 2024 and 80% from 2027 to 2032.
Grid storage factories are also in construction – redox flow batteries, Iron air batteries, Liquid Metals batteries
Map of USA Gigafactories
Existing USA Battery Gigafactories & Capacity
| Rank | Company | Location | Start Date | Capacity GWh | Expanded | Cars | Notes |
| 1 | Panasonic-Tesla | Gigafactory 1, Nevada, US | 2016 | 35 | 39 | 520,000 | by 2021 |
| 2 | LG Energy Solution (LG Chem) | Holland, Michigan, US | 2013 | 3 | 24 | 320,000 | By 2028 |
| 3 | Envision AESC | Smyrna, Tennessee, US | 2012 | 2 | 8 | 110,000 | By 2028 |
| 4 | Imperium3 | Imperium, New York, US | 2019 | 3 | 15 | 200,000 | |
| 5 | SAFT | Jacksonville, Florida, US | 2011 | 1 | 1 | 20,000 | |
| 6 | A123 Systems | US Plant 1, Michigan, US | 2020 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 10,000 | |
| 7 | A123 Systems | US Plant 2, Michigan, US | 2021 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 10,000 | |
| 8 | Samsung SDI | Auburn Hills, MI, US | 0 | production and sales | |||
| 9 | Ultium (GM-LG Chem) | Lordstown, Ohio, US | 2022 | 30 | 30 | 400,000 | |
| 10 | SK Innovation | 2nd Plant, Georgia, US | 2023 | 11.7 | 12 | 160,000 | US ban on SKI for 10 years except for VW and Ford puts plants in doubt |
| 11 | Do Floride Chemicals DFD / KORE Power | 10 | 10 | 140,000 | Energy Storage applications | ||
| 12 | SK Innovation | Commerce, Georgia, US | 2022 | 9.8 | 20 | 270,000 | US ban on SKI for 10 years except for VW and Ford puts plants in doubt |
| 13 | Tesla | Austin, Texas, US | 2022 | 50 | 200 | 2,670,000 | CY, MY, M3 (2m x 75kw) capacity 4m cars |
| 14 | Tesla | Gigafactory 2, Buffalo, New York, US | 2020 | 2 | 4 | 60,000 | Energy Storage applications |
| 15 | Tesla | Fremont, California | 2021 | 10 | 140,000 | Vehicle, expansion planned | |
| 16 | Akasol – Gigafactory 2 | Detroit, Michigan, US | 2021 | 0.4 | 2 | 30,000 | by 2023 |
| 17 | SVOLT | US | 0 | ||||
| 18 | Microvast | Clarksville, Tennessee, US | 2022 | 2 | 0 | Fast charging | |
| Totals | 160.2 | 375.3 | 5,060,000 |
|---|
Newly Announced Gigafactories
Along with the existing plants, a spate of announcements have extended the list.
| Company | Where | Initial | Expanded | |||
| Ford | Northeast of Memphis, TN | 2025 | 0 | |||
| Ford & SK Innovation | Glendale, Kentucky | 2025 | 86 | 86 | 1,150,000 | $5.8 billion plant – 3 plants, of 11,000 jobs |
| Ford & SK Innovation | Stanton Kentucky | 2026 | 43 | 43 | 580,000 | Includes new F150 plants, $7b Ford, $4.4 SKI |
| General Motors & LG Chem | Lordstown, OH | 2022 | 100 | 1,340,000 | Expected 1m vehicles | |
| General Motors & LG Energy Solution | Spring Hill, TN | 2023 | 50 | 670,000 | Unknown | |
| General Motors & Posco | TBA | 2024 | 50 | 670,000 | JV with POSCo, $35B planned | |
| General Motors | TBA, maybe Michigan | 2024 | 50 | 670,000 | Anounced 2 more factories | |
| General Motors | Warren, Michigan | 2022 | 50 | 670,000 | Battery Cell | |
| General Motors / MP Materials | Vegas, Nevada, Fort Worth TX | 2022 | 0 | Rare Earth magnets for 0.5m vehicles | ||
| SK Innovation | Commerce, Georgia | 2022 | 9.8 | 100 | 1,340,000 | Planned to be 200GWh by 2025, and 500GWh by 2030 |
| SK Innovation | Northeast of Atlanta, GA | 2023 | 11.7 | 100 | 1,340,000 | |
| Stellantis & LG Energy Solution | TBD | 2024 | 40 | 40 | 540,000 | Stellantis to have 260GWh by 2030 |
| Stellantis & Samsung SDI | TBD | 2025 | 23 | 40 | 540,000 | Start in 2025, Stellantis €30 billion |
| Toyota | Southeast of Greensboro, NC | 2025 | 10 | 60 | 800,000 | Enough for 200,00 vehicles, expand to 1.2m pa |
| Volkswagen | Chattanooga, TN | TBD | ||||
| Total | 223.5 | 769 | 10,310,000 |
What is a Gigafactory
A gigafactory is a coined expression from Tesla who suggest that the factory is the technology. A driving down of costs of batteries to well under $100/kw means an electric vehicle will be cheaper than an internal combustion vehicle.
Investment in the U.S. was increased from $1.67 billion (for the 1st plant) to $2.5 billion (two plants).
USA Battery Gigafactories by Syrah Resources (SYR:ASX)
Ioneer Graphic of USA Battery Gigafactories
More Reading
- Tracking the EV battery factory construction boom across North America (TechCrunch)
