Of those eight sites, Holland and an Arizona facility are the only two solely owned by the company, while the rest are joint ventures with major automakers. The projects represent nearly $27 billion in combined investment between LG Energy Solution and its automaker partners, which include General Motors, Stellantis, Honda and Hyundai.
“As LG Energy Solution continues to expand in North America, the Holland facility is on track to fulfill the role of a control center (i.e. a ‘Mother Factory’), providing operational support and employee education/training to other facilities in the region,” LG Energy Solution Communications Manager Val Gent said via email.
Gent did not respond to additional questions about whether Holland is competing with any other LG Energy Solution sites for a North American headquarters or how many additional jobs it would bring to Holland.
Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens said the potential for an LG Energy Solution North American headquarters would create major opportunities for the region, and add research and development and “white-collar technical” jobs along with the company’s manufacturing operations.
“LG Chem has exceeded expectations,” Owens said. “They’re hiring well above the average wage and with 100 percent paid health care, so really a great employer of choice. But if we can have some of the more white-collar technical jobs, I think it would make it so it’s a facility that has hundreds of years of staying power.”
LG Energy Solution Michigan built its existing Holland battery plant in 2009. The expansion plans, which were made public in early 2022, call for 13 new buildings next to the existing plant, including a roughly 1 million-square-foot main manufacturing building. The addition is more than five times the amount of the company’s initial $303 million investment in Holland.
