President Biden offers $7.5 billion for Samsung SDI-Stellantis hub

By Ari Natter

 

A joint venture between Samsung SDI Co. and Stellantis NV to create battery manufacturing plants in Indiana is being offered $7.5 billion in financing from the Biden administration. 

The conditional loan to StarPlus Energy LLC would fund as many as two lithium-ion battery cell and module manufacturing plants in Kokomo, Indiana for use in electric vehicles manufactured by Stellantis, the Energy Department announced Monday.

 

“The project will greatly expand EV battery manufacturing capacity in North America and reduce America’s reliance on adversarial foreign nations like China, as well as other foreign sourcing of EV batteries,” the Energy Department said in a blog post.

 

The funding, which could easily be canceled by the incoming Trump administration if not finalized by inauguration day, follows last week’s conditional commitment for a $6.6 billion federal loan to Rivian Automotive Inc. That would help fund Rivian’s planned EV battery factory in Georgia. 

 

Both companies will have to meet certain technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions to finalize the loans, which come come as the EV industry faces a sales growth slowdown and as many legacy automakers scale back their EV production targets.

 

The StarPlus Energy financing, which includes $6.85 billion in principal and $688 million in capitalized interest, comes as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reverse Biden’s support for EVs, including the repeal of a popular $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases — a move that would require approval from Congress.

 

Indeed Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the two nominated co-chairs of the soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency, said in a post on X that the department would scrutinize the $7.5 billion facility, as well as look at Rivian’s $6.6 billion credit line.

Biden’s midnight spending spree is illegitimate & should be rescinded. The Department of Energy just announced a staggering $7.5BN loan to StarPlus, a JV that includes Stellantis (whose CEO resigned just yesterday). The money comes from the ATVM loan program, which the GAO called… https://t.co/Rzi2m1tdp2 

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 3, 2024 

“DOGE will carefully scrutinize every one of these questionable 11th-hour transactions, starting on Jan. 20,” Ramaswamy said.

 

(Updates with Ramaswamy social media post in final paragraphs.)