SK begins construction of second Georgia battery factory
It will handle orders from Ford, Volkswagen
SK Innovation has begun the construction of its second factory at its electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Georgia in the US, TheElec confirmed on Thursday.
The company has wrapped up the foundation work for the factory and has started construction of the building. The second factory is at Jackson County, Georgia.
SK held no ceremony celebrating the start of construction __ it initially planned one with local authorities and company CEO Kim Jun in attendance. The event was likely canceled due to Atlanta announcing a state of emergency over the spread of COVID-19 virus.
The main clients that will use the batteries from the new factory will be Ford and Volkswagen.
Ford is betting on the F-Series and electric pick-up trucks. LG Chem, which has partnered with General Motors for a joint venture, is also reportedly eyeing the order from Ford. Electric pick-up trucks that uses batteries from SK and LG is expected to launch in 2022.
SK’s factory will also supply batteries for Volkswagen’s MEB (Modular Electric Drive) platform. The South Korean firm is handling all of the German company's volume aimed at the US market. This is expected to be around 900,000 EV units. SK is expecting annual sales of 730 billion won from the deal from 2022 to 2029.
The second factory is expected to have an annual production capacity of 11.7GWh. Combined with the first factory, SK’s Georgia plant will have an annual production capacity of 21.5GWh of EV batteries.
The first factory will go live in 2022 and the second one on 2023. When both are live, and combined with its factories in South Korea, China and Hungary, SK will have a global annual production capacity of 71GWh.
SK Innovation is aiming for a global output of 100GWh by 2025. It will need to win more orders equivalent to 29GWh, or 500,000 EVs with over 400 kilometers travel distance per charge.
The company has announced investments of 3 trillion won for the Georgia plant so far. It is planning to invest over 5 trillion won in total for the plant.