LG Confirms Large-Scale EV Battery Plant in Poland

South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. says it will open a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant next year in Wroclaw, Poland, confirming media reports from last year.

The facility will have the annual capacity to assemble cells into 100,000 batteries for electrified vehicles, which LG says will make the largest such facility in Europe. Reports about the size of LG’s investment in the project vary widely, ranging from $340 million to about three times that amount.

LG expects to employ about 2,500 people at the site, which also will house a research and development center. Lithium and other raw materials initially will be imported from Korea.

To date, European carmakers typically have used batteries imported from China and Korea for their EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles. But battery production in the region is expected to ramp up in coming years to keep pace with carmakers’ aggressive EV rollout plans.

LG didn’t identify customers for the new plant, which is located about 120 miles from the German border in southwest Poland. The company currently supplies EV batteries to several carmakers, including General Motors, Renault and VW Group.

Media reports this summer said LG had won a large contract to supply batteries to VW. LG said an agreement hadn’t been reached, without elaborating.