Electric vehicle battery plant in New Carlisle back on county agenda

NEW CARLISLE, Ind. - The plan to bring an electric vehicle battery plant to New Carlisle is back on the St. Joseph County Council's Tuesday agenda.

As of January of this year, plans to move ahead with the plant were up in the air after the Wall Street Journal reported the plans were scrapped indefinitely, through General Motors did not confirm the report.

At the time, a spokesperson for General Motors sent the following statement to ABC57 News:

"Our Ultium Cells JV plant in Ohio is ramping up production as we speak, and the plants in Tennessee and Michigan are on track to open in 2023 and 2024, respectively. This cell capacity keeps us on track to produce 400,000 EVs in North America by mid-2024 and we expect to have cell capacity to produce more than 1 million EVs annually in North America in 2025. We’ve been very clear that our plan includes investing in a fourth U.S. cell plant, but we’re not going to comment on speculation."

Since General Motors and LG Battery Solutions ended their partnership, Ultium Cells, for future plants, the Economic Revitalization Area and tax breaks approved for that plant now have to be re-approved under General Motors, LLC instead of Ultium Cells, according to Jeff Rea, CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.

At Tuesday's meeting, the county council will decide whether or not to re-approve those items under the petition of General Motors, LLC.  

No major details are expected to be released at Tuesday's meeting but this does confirm New Carlisle is still in the running to get the plant.

Bill No. 68-23, which focuses on the plant, can be seen below. All county council agendas are posted on St. Joseph County's website.