SK Innovation to start construction of second U.S. EV battery plant

South Korea's SK Innovation Co. a supplier for Volkswagen and Ford Motor Co., said on Tuesday it will spend $727 million to build a second EV battery plant in the United States.

Construction of the plant with annual capacity of 11.7 gigawatt-hours of batteries will begin in July in the southern state of Georgia with production aimed for 2023, the company already building its first factory there, said in a statement.

It will make a further investment in its second U.S. factory, bringing total spending to about $1.5 billion, an SK Innovation spokesperson told Reuters, but did not give a timeframe.

The company is currently building its first factory in the United States, in Georgia, for $1.6 billion. That 9.8 GWh factory will serve Volkswagen's plant in neighboring Tennessee, with production on track to begin in 2022.

SK Innovation, South Korea's biggest oil refiner, has rapidly expanded into EV batteries, with factories in South Korea, China and Hungary.

SK Innovation is also currently involved in a legal battle in the United States with its South Korean rival LG Chem, in which a win for LG Chem could stop SK Innovation importing EV batteries and components.

Researcher Wood Mackenzie this month forecast that global electric vehicle (EV) sales would drop 43 percent this year to 1.3 million vehicles because of the coronavirus outbreak, lower oil prices and a wait-and-see approach to buying new models.