NS, GM, Samsung SDI Partner on Battery Cell Plant
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
General Motors and Samsung SDI plan to invest more than $3 billion in a new battery cell manufacturing plant in the U.S. in New Carlisle, Ind. (St. Joseph County) on Norfolk Southern’s high-density Chicago Line. The facility is targeted to begin operations in 2026.
The plant, which will manufacture batteries based on GM’s Ultium Platform, “was strategically designed to accept multiple cell form factors and chemistries,” GM noted. “For example, in China, the Cadillac LYRIQ is powered by prismatic cells applied to the same battery packs used in the U.S.”
The facility is expected to have more than 30 GWh of capacity and will bring GM’s total U.S. battery cell capacity to about 160 GWh at full production. The companies plan to jointly operate plant, which is projected to have production lines to build nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. Though GM and Samsung SDI have not announced the plant’s exact location or employment projections, the two said the number of new jobs in construction and operations “are expected to number in the thousands. As customer demand for EVs (electric vehicles) rises, GM will continue to scale its supply chain and operations, including cell production and vehicle assembly.”
“Norfolk Southern is proud to be recognized as a partner in helping GM and Samsung SDI find a location for their EV battery plant,” the railroad said. “We congratulate all our Indiana Economic Development Corporation for the largest EV investment in their state’s history, and we look forward to assisting these world-class companies on their supply chain needs.”
“GM’s supply chain strategy for EVs is focused on scalability, resiliency, sustainability and cost-competitiveness,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “Our new relationship with Samsung SDI will help us achieve all these objectives. The cells we will build together will help us scale our EV capacity in North America well beyond one million units annually.”
“It is a great pleasure to take the very first step to create a long-term industry-leading partnership with GM in the U.S. EV market,” remarked Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi. “We will do our best to provide the products featuring the highest levels of safety and quality produced with our unrivalled technologies to help GM strengthen its leadership in the EV market.”
According to, the new joint venture with Samsung SDI will leverage the capital and technology of both companies to create new competitive advantages for GM.
“We will continue to scale production and optimize the chemistry of our pouch cells for performance, range and cost using new approaches pioneered at GM’s Wallace Battery Center and by our technology partners,” said GM Executive Vice President, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain Doug Parks. “The introduction of new cell form factors will allow us to expand into even more segments more quickly and integrate cells directly into battery packs to reduce weight, complexity and costs. With multiple strong cell partners, we can scale our EV business faster than we could going it alone.”
Supporting battery manufacturing and raw material processing facilities is a rapidly growing piece of new business for railroads:
