General Motors’ ambitious electric vehicle lineup required a great deal of investment in battery development and production across the United States and Canada.
Three years ago, GM had ownership stake in four battery plants between two joint venture partners: South Korean companies LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI.
Now, the Detroit automaker has two ― one in Ohio, and one in Tennessee, and of those, only one is producing batteries for electric cars.
Including a battery research lab still under construction, here’s a list of where GM is ― and isn’t ― building batteries for its vehicles.
Michigan
GM and LG Energy Solution received more than $600 million from the quasipublic Michigan Strategic Fund in Lansing in 2022 for battery and battery-powered vehicle
production in the state ― divided between about $480 million in upgrades to its Orion Assembly Plant to build the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV and $120 million to fund a new battery plant in Lansing.
The Lansing plant has since been sold off entirely to LG Energy Solution. In December 2024, GM said it would recoup about $1 billion in its sale of Ultium Cells to LG Energy Solution, but the $120 million grant benefiting Ultium stayed with LG even after GM’s sale.
The plant opened Aug. 18 and will produce two types of batteries: vehicle batteries for Toyota and later Tesla Inc. and batteries for energy storage systems for customers including DTE Energy and Consumers Energy.
Meanwhile, GM is assembling gasoline-powered vehicles in Orion ― the Cadillac Escalade, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty pickups ― starting in 2027 but began assembling battery packs on the same site.
GM said July 15, 2025, that the expansion of the Orion site has already been made and includes a Rechargeable Energy Storage System facility where production of battery modules is underway.
The taxpayer funds that GM accepted through the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, known as SOAR, covered battery products, so even though they aren’t building battery-powered vehicles at Orion, GM did not need to return the $480 million to the state. As part of its deal with the state of Michigan, GM is still responsible for creating 1,840 jobs and investing $4 billion at the facility by 2030.
Another battery cell development center was recently completed at the company’s Global Technical Center in Warren.
Ohio
GM and LG Energy Solution reopened the joint venture Warren battery plant after seven months of shutdown.
Right now, the Warren (Ohio) Ultium Cells site produces nickel-cobalt-magnesium-aluminum pouch cells for batteries that go in all of GM’s EV. That is, except for the Chevrolet Bolt, which GM plans to import from China for the duration of its limited run.
The Chevrolet Blazer EV, which GM produces at its Ramos Arizpe Assembly Plant in Coahuila, Mexico, also uses batteries from the Warren site.
Tennessee and Indiana
Originally planned for electric vehicle battery production, GM instead poured $70 million to convert the Tennessee Ultium Cells facility in Spring Hill for lithium iron phosphate cells for battery energy storage solution production. The largest customers for those batteries include regional energy companies and AI data centers.
GM sold its stake in the planned $3.5 billion battery factory in New Carlisle, Indiana, to Samsung SDI, its joint venture partner. Much like the similar deal with LG Energy Solution that GM backed out of in Lansing, the companies remain battery partners without the GM investment in the site or employment commitments. The facility was meant to support over 1,600 jobs and begin mass production in 2027.
Canada
GM completed a facility for battery production in Ingersoll, Ontario, for the purpose of powering its now-discontinued BrightDrop electric delivery vans. That facility has lain dormant since the plants’ shutdown in October 2025.
Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM's U.S. footprint for EV batteries has dwindled to 1 location
