Stellantis, Samsung SDI Plan New EV Battery Plant in Indiana

The companies said they expect the project to create 1,400 jobs and supply battery modules for an unspecified range of EVs made at Stellantis’s North American assembly plants.

The move represents the latest in a flurry of investment in new production facilities for electric-vehicle batteries across North America.

Hyundai Motor Group

said last week that it would build a new $5.5 billion manufacturing complex in Georgia for EVs and batteries. Last fall,

Ford Motor Co.

said it would build a battery-making production facility in Tennessee with South Korea-based

SK Innovation.

General Motors Co.

also said in January that it would build a new battery-cell plant in Lansing, Mich.

Stellantis Chief Executive

Carlos Tavares

has emphasized the need to increase battery production, recently warning that the auto industry faces an imminent shortage.

“We will have, around 2025 or 2026, a short supply of batteries,” Mr. Tavares said at a conference earlier this month. “And if there is no short supply of batteries, then there will be a significant dependence of the western world vis-à-vis Asia.”

The Indiana project is the Stellantis’s second planned battery facility in North America. In March, the company said it would build a new $4.1 billion electric-vehicle battery facility with

LG Energy Solution

in Windsor, Ontario.

Like other auto makers, Stellantis has allocated billions of dollars to boost production of battery-powered vehicles, as it races to catch up with

Tesla Inc.,

the market leader in selling EVs. Stellantis has set a goal of EVs representing half of its U.S. sales annually by 2030, and it aims to have more than 75 battery electric-vehicle models on the road by then.

Auto manufacturers have taken different business approaches to achieving their goals. Ford plans to create two separate internal divisions, one focused on gas-powered vehicles, another on EVs. Stellantis executives have said they don’t believe such a structural change would benefit the company’s operations.