Hyundai and LG will invest another $2 billion in a battery-manufacturing EV plant in the US

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution announced they will spend an additional $2 billion and hire 400 other people to build batteries at the automaker’s huge U.S. electric vehicle plant in Georgia, which is currently under construction.

The announcement by the South Korean companies — one a major automaker, the other a leading producer of lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles — builds on a three-month-old collaboration to produce batteries at the same site west of Savannah where Hyundai plans to begin EV production in 2025. The announcement on Thursday takes the firms’ total investment in the Georgia factory to more than $7.5 billion, with an estimated workforce of 8,500 at the site.

“This incremental investment in Bryan County reflects our continued commitment to create a more sustainable future powered by American workers,” said José Muoz, president and worldwide chief operating officer of Hyundai Motor Company, in a statement. Hyundai announced it would invest $5.5 billion in 2022 to build electric vehicles and batteries on 2,900 acres (1,170 hectares) in the Ellabell neighbourhood.