LG Chem in GM cathode material deal

Under a new supply contract worth about $18.7 billion, LG Chem will supply  General Motors (GM) with over 500,000 tonnes of cathode materials from its new plant in Tennessee between 2026 and 2035. This equates to powering 5 million units of high-performance pure electric vehicles (EVs) with a range of 500 km on a single charge.

The agreement follows a comprehensive agreement between the two firms in July 2022 for long-term supply of cathode materials. The nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminium materials produced at the Tennessee plant are expected to be primarily used by Ultium Cells, a joint venture between LG Energy Solution and GM.  

LG Chem began building the plant in December 2023. It has capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year and will produce customised cathode materials optimised for North American EVs from the development stage.