General Motors and POSCO Chemical plan to form a joint venture through which the parties will construct a factory in North America to process critical battery materials for GM’s Ultium electric vehicle platform.

The joint venture will process Cathode Active Material (CAM), a key battery material that represents about 40% of the cost of a battery cell. The location of the facility, which will create hundreds of jobs when it opens in 2024, will be announced later.

Our work with POSCO Chemical is a key part of our strategy to rapidly scale US EV production and drive innovation in battery performance, quality and cost. We are building a sustainable and resilient North America-focused supply chain for EVs covering the entire ecosystem from raw materials to battery cell manufacturing and recycling.

—Doug Parks, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain

The new facility will supply the Ultium Cells LLC facilities GM and LG Energy Solution are building in Lordstown, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tennessee. Two more US-based Ultium cell plants are planned by mid-decade as GM drives mass adoption of EVs with high-volume Ultium-powered EVs, including a Chevrolet crossover priced around $30,000.

GM and POSCO Chemical have signed a non-binding term sheet to create the joint venture and expect to execute definitive agreements soon.

GM will invest $35 billion from 2020 to 2025 in electric and autonomous vehicles. The company plans to launch more than 30 EVs globally by 2025, with more than two-thirds available in the United States. GM is planning for 1 million annual global EV sales by 2025.

POSCO Chemical is a global advanced materials company dedicated to batteries for future mobility. It is producing high-capacity Ni-rich cathode materials and low-expansion anode materials for EV batteries, and has a set of technologies such as NCMA cathode, silicon anode and materials for solid-state batteries.

POSCO, the parent company of POSCO Chemical, is a global steel maker. POSCO Group is building a strong value chain across battery business from raw materials to battery recycling.