Car manufacturer Hyundai and battery manufacturer SK will invest five billion dollars to build a joint battery cell factory in Bartow County, Georgia, US. Production would start in the second half of 2025. With this new joint venture, the two South Korean companies aim to produce 35 kWh of EV battery cells annually, enough to produce 300 000 all-electric vehicles.

The planned battery factory on a 2-923-acre site in Bartow County, Hyundai’s first in the US, will be close to the group’s US production facilities, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Kia Georgia, and Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. It is also less than 50 kilometers from the Port of Savannah, the US’s single-largest and fastest-growing container terminal.

8 100 new jobs

Mobis, a subsidiary of Hyundai specializing in spare parts, will assemble the cells into batteries and then supply them to the group’s US manufacturing facilities to produce Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EV models. The project is expected to create about 8 100 new jobs.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), companies operating in low-carbon sectors can benefit from massive subsidies in the US. With the investment, the agreement with the state of Georgia was signed last year in May; the group aims to become a leading provider of electrified mobility solutions in the US.

3,23 million EVs annually

Hyundai is accelerating its electrification efforts with the global target to sell 3,23 million fully electric vehicles annually by 2030. With the additional EV and battery production capabilities in the US, the Hyundai Motor Group aims to become one of the top three EV providers in the US by 2026.

The Hyundai Motor Group is now the largest vehicle manufacturer in South Korea and the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world after Toyota and Volkswagen.

Last year, some 716 911 Hyundai-branded vehicles were sold in the US, or about 5% of the car market in the US. It has also started offering the Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 in the US on a monthly subscription basis called Evolve+.

On Tuesday, new rules that will significantly shorten the list of EVs that qualify for federal tax credits of 7 500 dollars will start to be implemented in the US.

American brands like Tesla and General Motors or Ford will benefit most from these new rules, as the Biden administration wants to target Chinese imports mainly. For foreign carmakers to see their EV brands subsidized in the US, they have to prove most components are sourced in America or have to get an exemption, as Japan and Europe did.