St. Joseph County officials are downplaying news today that General Motors and Samsung will delay the start of production at the electric vehicle battery plant near New Carlisle.
Construction on the $3.5 billion EV battery plant hasn’t started yet but St. Joseph County Economic Development Director Bill Schalliol says he expects that to happen any day now. Schalliol said the county isn’t worried about news Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News and elsewhere, reporting that the companies won’t start production until 2027, rather than the initially announced 2026.
The news comes as automakers have scaled back electric vehicle production amid softening demand, as more practical consumers worry about range and the ability to recharge on trips. Last week, for example, Ford announced it would postpone a new big electric pickup truck by 18 months.
But Schalliol said the production plans are delayed because construction startup has taken longer than expected, partly because GM switched its partner from LG to Samsung. On the contrary, Schalliol said he’s excited that on Tuesday GM and Samsung announced they’d finalized and officially signed their joint venture for the project.
"What we're being told is this is a good sign," Schalliol said. "They've got products that they're waiting for these batteries to be built for, and so by the time that these are ready to go, they're going to be producing cars with them in it."
