Hyundai’s $5B battery plant opens with enough capacity to power 300,000 EVs a year
SkimNews Take
Hyundai and SK On's 50/50 Korean-Korean joint venture shows how automakers and battery suppliers are pooling capital to underwrite US gigafactory scale while remaining rivals in the EV market they both serve.
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- Hyundai-SK Battery Manufacturing America (HSBMA) began commercial production at the $5B, 35 GWh Bartow County, GA plant earlier this month, slightly behind the original H2 2025 target, with capacity sized for ~300,000 EVs annually.
- Hyundai will route the first cells off the line to its Metaplant for the three-row IONIQ 9, while SK On has already been supplying the same Metaplant via its separate Commerce, GA plant since April 2025.
- Hyundai and LG Energy Solution opened a second battery plant roughly 30 minutes outside Savannah, GA in April, rounding out the automaker's domestic cell supply chain after a controversial ICE raid delayed construction.
- Hyundai sold 26,936 all-electric models in the US in H1 2026, ranking third among EV brands behind Tesla and Chevrolet and trailing Chevy by just 1,331 units despite a 5.4% YoY decline dragged down by the discontinued IONIQ 6.
- Chevy's EV sales collapsed 40% from nearly 47,000 in H1 2025, while IONIQ 9 sales jumped 380% YoY as buyers shift toward more efficient options amid higher gas prices.
- Hyundai's EVs are pulling in new buyers at unusually high conquest rates — the IONIQ 5 hit 69.8% and the IONIQ 9 hit 64.3% last year, both above the brand's gas and hybrid conquest rates.
- The 2026 IONIQ 5 now starts at $35,000, and Hyundai just launched a summer promo offering 0% APR plus up to $10,000 off EVs.
Why it matters: Hyundai sits just 1,331 EVs behind Chevrolet in H1 2026 U.S. sales while Chevy's volume cratered 40% year over year, putting the #2 EV brand crown in play. The new 35 GWh HSBMA plant locks in domestic cell supply for ~300,000 EVs a year, giving Hyundai the margin room to keep pricing aggressive — the IONIQ 5 now starts at $35,000 with a separate promo stacking 0% APR and up to $10,000 off.
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