General Motors has reached an agreement to sell its stake in the nearly completed battery factory for electric vehicles in Lansing, Michigan.
The company said on Monday that it has a non-binding agreement to sell to joint venture partner LG Energy Solution of South Korea. The companies expect to close the sale by the end of March.
Financial details were not released Monday. But GM, which has invested about $1 billion in the Lansing plant, said it expects a return on its investment.
The company said it will rely on joint venture factories in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, to supply the plants that make the seven electric vehicles now sold in the US.
Almost all U.S. automakers have had to slow plans to build electric vehicle and battery factories after electric vehicle sales growth slowed from a huge 2023 surge.
Through September, sales of new electric vehicles in the U.S. rose 7.2% to about 936,000, according to Motorintelligence.com. That’s slower growth than the 47% increase in 2023. But sales of electric vehicles this year are still likely to surpass last year’s record of 1.19 million. The share of electric vehicles in new vehicle sales this year is 7.9%, compared to 7.6% last year.
The 2.8 million-square-foot Lansing plant employs about 100 people and is on track to hire about 1,700 workers, GM said. It was supposed to open this year, but the opening date is unclear.
GM also announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with LG to jointly develop prismatic battery cells for electric vehicles. The rectangular cells can store more energy, reducing battery size and reducing weight and cost compared to the bags GM uses now.
