Governor Eric J. Holcomb and Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers  joined executives from Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) and Samsung SDI to announce the joint venture’s plans to invest over $2.5 billion to build a new electric-vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo. To support the operation, the companies will create 1,400 new, high-wage jobs in Howard County. This project will establish Samsung SDI’s first presence in Indiana and its first manufacturing operations in the U.S.

"Our goals for the growth of Indiana’s economy are ambitious,” said Sec. Chambers. “This significant venture with Stellantis and Samsung SDI is squarely in line with our 5E focus on the energy transition and building an economy of the future. Large-scale investments like this are a testament to Indiana’s business-friendly climate, its strong workforce, a growing population and our continued investment in quality of life. The economic growth and momentum in our state this year is unprecedented."

Stellantis and Samsung SDI will gradually invest over $2.5 billion to build a next-generation electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in close proximity to the existing Stellantis facility in Kokomo. The investment could gradually increase up to $3.1 billion. Plant operations are expected to achieve an initial annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh), with an increase to 33 GWh over the next few years. The facility will supply battery modules for a range of electric vehicles produced at Stellantis’ North American assembly plants. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2025.

Last year, Stellantis rolled out its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, the company plans to have global annual battery electric vehicle sales of five million vehicles by 2030, reaching 100% of passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in North America. Stellantis also increased planned battery capacity by 140 GWh to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five battery manufacturing plants together with additional supply contracts. This announcement is part of the long-term electrification strategy to invest $35 billion USD (€30 billion) through 2025 in electrification and software globally.

With today’s news, Stellantis and its JV partners have committed more than $3.3 billion in Indiana in just the last two years. Stellantis announced plans in October 2021 to invest $229 million in its Kokomo operations to support its goal of achieving 40% low-emission vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030, along with a $400 million investment, announced in 2020, to expand and retool its Indiana Transmission Plant II for production of its new GMET4 engine.

Based on the company’s plans to locate its operations in Indiana, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in the Project of up to $37.5 million in the form of conditional tax credits; up to $2 million in conditional training grants; up to $20 million in conditional redevelopment tax credits based on the company’s investment plans; up to $2 million to the local community from the Industrial Development Grant Fund to support infrastructure improvements; and up to $100 million in conditional structured performance payments and $25 million for site readiness to offset capital and infrastructure costs. The IEDC and other state financing authorities will also offer repayable financing support to the Project to aid construction and infrastructure. These incentives are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim state benefits once investments are made and employees are hired and trained. The city of Kokomo, Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance Inc., Howard County, Duke Energy Indiana and Northern Indiana Public Service Company offered additional incentives.