Gotion High-tech Co, one of the largest Chinese EV lithium-ion battery manufacturers, will build its first battery factory in the United States.
The company selected Manteno, Illinois as the location for a $2 billion investment, which according to Governor JB Pritzker, is expected to bring more than 2,600 new jobs. The size of the site will be approximately 150 acres.
The plan for the factory is to produce 40 gigawatt-hours of EV lithium-ion cells, which is enough for about 400,000 vehicles (assuming 100 kilowatt-hours per battery pack on average). According to the press release, the plant will produce 10 GWh of battery packs too, which means that the remaining 30 GWh of battery cells will be supplied to other customers to build battery packs on their own.
There is no info on the planned battery chemistry or form factor - Gotion can provide a variety of types, starting from affordable LFP and ending with high energy dense, high-nickel chemistries.
The announcement about the plant also does not include info about the customers, but at such a high scale, we guess that it must be a large OEM or a few of them. We know that Gotion is backed by the Volkswagen Group, but it does not automatically mean that this particular project is related to the German manufacturer.
Production of batteries is expected to start in 2024, which sounds like a very fast and ambitious target.
Governor JB Pritzker said that the Gotion's plant is the largest electric vehicle battery production investment in Illinois to date. To attract such an investment, the state prepared a package of incentives. Per the press release, "Gotion's total incentive package from the State of Illinois, which includes REV, Invest in Illinois, and other incentives, is valued at $536 million. Through REV, Gotion is eligible to receive tax benefits totaling $213 million over 30 years. The REV agreement specifies a minimum company investment of $1.9 billion and the creation of 2,600 full-time jobs that are paid at least 120% of the average wage of similar job classifications in Kankakee County."
Additionally, the release states, "Gotion will also be the first recipient of Invest in Illinois funding in the amount of $125 million in capital funding to the company. Gotion was also approved by local authorities for property tax abatement for 30 years."
