SEOUL: South Korea’s leading battery-makers are reworking their North American playbooks, shifting from electric vehicle (EV) batteries to energy storage systems, as US automakers retreat from aggressive electrification targets and dissolve joint ventures.
However, with EV batteries long serving as their main profit driver, a prolonged downturn in the sector is raising concerns that the strategic shift may not be enough to sustain meaningful growth.
According to Bloomberg on Wednesday, Stellantis is exploring an exit from StarPlus Energy, its US battery joint venture with Samsung SDI.
This is as it seeks to roll back EV investments and conserve cash after announcing more than 22bil in asset writedowns – a sharp reduction in the recorded value of key assets – last week.
Based in Kokomo, Indiana, StarPlus Energy’s first plant began operations in December 2024 as a key production hub to target the North American EV market.
The second plant is under construction with a target launch for next year. Total investment in the two plants amounts to US$6.3bil.
Bloomberg reported that Stellantis is considering selling off its stake to a third party, though no final decision has been made yet.
The move would add to a broader retreat by US automakers from partnerships with South Korean battery manufacturers that began last year due to a downturn in North American EV demand, following the abolition of federal consumer EV subsidies in September 2025.
Last week, Stellantis sold its 49% stake in NextStar Energy, a joint venture with LG Energy Solution in Canada, to LG for a symbolic US$100, exiting a partnership in which its stake had been valued at about 1.4 trillion won (US$964mil).
In the United States, LG Energy Solution acquired the third Ultium Cells battery plant in Michigan from its joint venture with GM last year.
SK On dissolved its US battery joint venture with Ford Motor Co in December last year by splitting ownership of the three BlueOval SK plants.
The South Korean company will assume full control of the Tennessee facility under construction, while Ford will take over the two Kentucky plants.
Against this backdrop, the three battery-makers have been accelerating their push into the rapidly growing North American energy storage systems market, largely driven by the AI data centre boom and supported by tax incentives under the US Inflation Reduction Act.
During recent earnings calls, LG Energy Solution and SK On vowed to secure huge ESS orders, centered on North America.
Samsung SDI aims to boost its annual ESS sales by around 50% on-year.
The battery facilities newly acquired from their former US partners are being – or will be – mainly used as manufacturing bases for ESS applications. — The Korea Herald/ANN
