US Energy Department set to loan GM battery joint venture $2.5bn

WASHINGTON: The US Energy Department on Monday plans to announce it intends to loan a joint venture of General Motors Co and LG Energy Solution $2.5 billion to help finance construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities, officials told Reuters.

The conditional commitment for the loan to Ultium Cells LLC for facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan is expected to close in the coming months and comes from the government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, which has not funded a new loan since 2010.

The program previously provided loans to Tesla Inc, Ford Motor and Nissan.

This would be the Energy Department’s first loan for a battery cell manufacturing project under the vehicle program.

President Joe Biden has set a goal of 50% of US auto production by 2030 being electric or plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.

“We have to have vehicle manufacturing capacity but also battery manufacturing capacity,” said Jigar Shah, who directs the Energy Department loan program office, in a Reuters interview.