{"id":2911,"date":"2026-05-05T08:53:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/2911\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:53:31","slug":"tesla-to-buy-4-3-billion-of-lg-energy-battery-cells-made-in-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/2911\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla to buy $4.3 billion of LG Energy battery cells made in Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Tesla Megapack battery at the Harmony Energy Ltd. and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures BV battery energy storage project near Burgess Hill, England, May 11, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/TSLA\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tesla<\/a> is expanding ties with South Korea&#8217;s LG Energy Solution, striking a deal to buy $4.3 billion worth of battery cells that will be made in Lansing, Michigan for use in its energy storage systems.<\/p>\n<p>The plant was formerly developed for a joint venture between LG and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/GM\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">General Motors<\/a> before the automaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/12\/02\/gm-battery-cell-plant-lg.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">decided to retreat from that initiative <\/a>in late-2024, selling its stake to LG as part of a pullback in the automaker&#8217;s electric vehicle investments. <\/p>\n<p>While Tesla still makes most of its revenue from EVs, the company is investing in its more rapidly growing energy business, as data centers drive up electricity demand. Tesla&#8217;s Megapacks can store power produced using intermittent sources like solar or wind, or during off-peak hours, then make it available for use when demand is high. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/TSLA\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tesla<\/a> currently sells Powerwall backup batteries for residential use with its solar installations, and much larger Megapack and Megablock systems for utility-scale power storage. Last year, revenue in the company&#8217;s energy segment increased 27% to $12.8 billion, accounting for 13% of total revenue. Total revenue dropped due to a 10% decline in the auto business. <\/p>\n<p>Details of the Tesla-LG partnership were announced during an Indo-Pacific Energy Security Summit in Japan, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/trump-administration-announces-deals-totaling-56-billion-during-indo-pacific-energy-security-summit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.<\/a> The Trump administration announced a total of $56 billion in private sector commitments at the event. <\/p>\n<p>A spokesman with LG Energy Solution said the company &#8220;will establish dedicated production lines at our Lansing facility to deliver on this agreement.&#8221; LG last year retooled the facility to build LFP (lithium iron phosphate) prismatic cells, later confirming a $4.3 billion deal with an unnamed company. <\/p>\n<p>GM continues to have a significant presence in and around the Lansing battery plant, but the company has largely retrenched from the EV market, announcing $7.6 billion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/08\/gm-q4-charges-ev-china.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">related write-downs<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Tesla, meanwhile, expects its energy business to &#8220;have very high growth for as far into the future as we can imagine,&#8221; CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/elon-musk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk<\/a> said during the company&#8217;s fourth-quarter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/28\/tesla-tsla-2025-q4-earnings.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">earnings call<\/a> in January. Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja cautioned that the energy segment expects &#8220;margin compression&#8221; from low-cost competition and the cost of tariffs. <\/p>\n<p>Tesla&#8217;s competition includes companies like BYD in China and climate-tech startups like Form, which is making iron-air batteries, and others. <\/p>\n<p>WATCH: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2026\/02\/01\/why-the-ev-factory-boom-in-the-us-south-is-suddenly-in-trouble.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Why the EV factory boom in the U.S. south is suddenly in trouble<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"InlineVideo-videoThumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/108197027-1757525565878-gettyimages-2233996976-AFP_73Y97LD.jpeg\" alt=\"Why the EV factory boom in the U.S. south is suddenly in trouble\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tesla Megapack battery at the Harmony Energy Ltd. and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures BV battery energy storage project&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2612,2603,2598,2605,2597,78,2514,2599,74,2613,2600,77,2615,2610,2607,2602,2606,2608,315,747,733,2609,2604,33,2601,1781,2611,2614],"class_list":{"0":"post-2911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lg-energy-solution","8":"tag-aes-corp","9":"tag-albemarle-corp","10":"tag-autos","11":"tag-boyd-gaming-corp","12":"tag-breaking-news-business","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-business-news","15":"tag-donald-j-trump","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-duke-energy-corp","18":"tag-elon-musk","19":"tag-environment","20":"tag-first-solar-inc","21":"tag-fluence-energy-inc","22":"tag-freeport-mcmoran-inc","23":"tag-general-motors-co","24":"tag-global-x-lithium-battery-tech-etf","25":"tag-invesco-solar-etf","26":"tag-lg","27":"tag-lg-energy","28":"tag-lg-energy-solution","29":"tag-nextera-energy-inc","30":"tag-sociedad-quimica-y-minera-de-chile-sa","31":"tag-south-korea","32":"tag-tesla-inc","33":"tag-transportation","34":"tag-vistra-corp","35":"tag-williams-companies-inc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}