Stellantis and Samsung SDI said on Friday that they have entered an agreement for a joint venture to produce electric vehicle (EV) battery cells and modules in the United States.

The joint venture aims to start operations by the first half of 2025 with an initial annual battery production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh). Its annual battery production capacity could increase to 40 GWh in the future, Samsung SDI said.

No financial details of the deal were provided. The location of the factory is under review.

Stellantis said the Samsung SDI joint will be one of multiple battery plants it plans with established battery makers for electric vehicle production in North America.

The Stellantis-Samsung SDI tie-up comes less than a week after Stellantis signed a preliminary deal with battery maker LG Energy Solution to produce 40 GWh of batteries a year for North America.

“With the forthcoming battery plants coming online, we will be well positioned to compete and ultimately win in the North American electric vehicle market,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

Stellantis aims for 40 percent of its sales in the U.S. to be electrified vehicles by 2030.

The battery plants will fulfill the needs of Stellantis assembly plants in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for next-generation electric vehicles ranging from plug-in hybrids to full-electric vehicles that will be sold under various Stellantis brands, the automaker said.

Samsung SDI, an affiliate of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, already has EV battery plants in South Korea, China and Hungary, which supply customers such as BMW and Ford Motor.

With these two joint ventures, Stellantis has secured up to an annual battery production capacity of 80 GWh, which could power about 1.2 million electric vehicles.
The automaker has said it wants to secure more than 130 GWh of global battery capacity by 2025 and more than 260 GWh by 2030.

Stellantis was formed in January from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group.

Automotive News Europe contributed to this report