SK Innovation Co. Ltd which supplies Volkswagen and Ford Motors will spend a sum of US$727 Million in order to build its second electric vehicle battery plant in the US according to a new report from the company released yesterday.
The plant is expected to peak an annual capacity of 11.7 gigawatt-hours of batteries and will begin in July in the southern state of Georgia with production aimed for the year 2023 according to the company.
Also, it will further its business by investing it its second US factory which will bring the total amount to about US$1.5 billion according to representatives of the company which declined to state the time frame of the operation.
The company plans to invest about US$903 Million (SK₩ 1.2 Trillion) in it’s first US factory with capacity of 9.8GWh intended to serve Volkswagen’s EV base in Tennessee and production on track by the beginning of the year 2022.
SK Innovation is also South Korea’s biggest oil refiner but the company is rapidly expanding its business into EV batteries and already has factories in China, Hungary and of course South Korea.
The company is also involved in a law suite in the US with its South Korean rival LG Chem LTD and if LG Chem wins this legal battle, that could stop SK Innovation from importing EV batteries and components into the country.
Wood Mackenzie in a forecast this month reports a 43% drop in global sales of electric vehicles (EV) to 1.3 million units which is due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Also there is lower oil prices as transportation industry is hit highly by the pandemic.
