WASHINGTON, D.C. — DOE Gives $2.5 Billion Loan To Help Finance EV Battery Plants In Michigan, Ohio And Tennessee. Ultium Cells, a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, will manage battery cell production at the three facilities to address the growing U.S. consumer demand for electric vehicles.
The project is expected to create more than 11,000 jobs—6,000 in construction and 5,100 in operations—across the three facilities, including more than 700 United Auto Worker jobs in the newly-organized Warren, Ohio facility.
This loan boosts the nation’s standing as a global leader of EV manufacturing.
If you need an SBA business loan, read more.
In October, President Biden launched the American Battery Materials Initiative alongside $2.8 billion in grants from DOE to build out the battery mineral and material supply chain. This latest loan closing will directly support the President’s goals to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and having EVs make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030.
“DOE is flooring the accelerator to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home—and that starts with domestic battery manufacturing led by American workers and the unions that support them,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This loan will jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand and support President Biden’s goals of widespread EV adoption and cutting carbon pollution produced by gas-powered vehicles.”
In July, LPO announced a conditional commitment for the loan to Ultium Cells to manufacture large format, pouch-type cells that use a state-of-the-art chemistry to deliver more range at less cost. Those cells can be arranged in different combinations to provide clean, reliable energy for all vehicles on the road today, including pickups, SUVs and other family vehicles, as well luxury vehicles and commercial vehicles. Ultium Cells plans to use this technology in coordination with GM’s work to eliminate 100% of tailpipe emissions from its new U.S. light-duty vehicles by 2035. This also supports GM’s plans to install capacity to produce more than one million EVs annually in North America and make its global products and operations carbon neutral by 2040.
Today’s announcement marks LPO’s first closed loan exclusively for a battery cell manufacturing project under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program. Financing from the ATVM program complements the historic investments of the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—$7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure and more than $7 billion for the critical minerals supply chains necessary for batteries, components, materials, and recycling.
For more information about Ultium Cells and its plans for the battery cell production facilities funded through LPO’s ATVM program, read the conditional commitment blog post and visit LPO’s portfolio project page.
