GM Pivots Tennessee Battery Plant to Tap Energy Storage Boom

Ultium Cells LLC, the battery joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution, will start making cells for stationary energy storage at its Tennessee plant next month as it seeks to restart factories idled by GM’s EV retrenchment.

Ultium will rehire about 700 workers who were temporarily laid off in January at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, facility to start production of lithium iron phosphate, or LFP cells, which it will supply to LG to sell to grid and data center customers, Tom Gallagher, vice president of operations for Ultium, said in an interview. The plant, which first opened in 2024, previously made nickel-based cells for the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq and Honda’s Acura ZDX SUVs, and was set to employ as many as 1,350 before it paused production.