Toyota steps in, spends $1.5B for Michigan battery factory with LG

2025 Toyota 4RunnerToyota plans to shift a $1.5 billion order to an LG Energy Solution battery factory in Michigan to help keep it afloat after General Motors backed out of the project, Automotive News reported Wednesday. Located in the state capital of Lansing, the plant started out as a joint venture between GM and LG. But in December GM said it was selling its...

Hyundai and Kia are working on structural battery packs

Hyundai and Kia battery case floor patent imageHyundai and Kia are looking to combine battery-pack cases with vehicle structural components for greater packaging efficiency. In a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 14, 2024, and first submitted by the automakers to that agency Oct. 26, 2023, Hyundai and Kia discuss having a vehicle's floor...

Jeep, Ford, Audi PHEV recalls: Battery replacement the next step?

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xeDamage to the batteries' separator could lead to shorts and/or fires Recall campaigns from Stellantis, Ford, and Audi allow replacement of battery packs New paperwork filed by battery supplier Samsung SDI says the issue remains under investigation Plug-in hybrids from multiple automakers have been recalled due a potential issue with vehicles'...

Freyr Battery cancels $2.6 billion Georgia battery factory plans

Rendering of proposed Freyr Norwegian battery firm Freyr has canceled plans for a Georgia factory that would have supplied batteries for energy storage. First reported by the Newman Times-Herald of Newman, Georgia, Freyr confirmed plans to cancel the factory in a letter to the local Coweta County Development Authority dated Jan. 21, and in a Thursday meeting with the...

Greenland might help give EVs an edge over gasoline

Lithium SaltsGreenland could emerge as a major source of raw materials for electric-vehicle batteries—if industrial interests have their way. Arctic conditions and an ice layer over much of the land mass in this autonomous territory of Denmark have made mining difficult in the past. But, ironically, as glaciers recede due to climate change mineral...