SOUTH BEND — The General Motors and Samsung SDI battery plant near New Carlisle will pause all construction indefinitely once the exterior is completed.
The $3.5 billion GM battery plant, dubbed Synergy Cells, has been working toward a Dec. 31, 2027, substantial completion date since 2023, when GM and Samsung SDI announced the project. Contractors worked on building the exterior of the 60-foot-tall plant for most of the winter, St. Joseph County Executive Director of Economic Development Bill Schalliol said.
Schalliol confirmed to The Tribune on May 19 that construction at the plant will soon come to a complete stop and said multiple factors could have contributed to the construction stall, including reaching a natural breakpoint in construction, the end of EV incentives by the Trump administration or the economic state of the nation.
However, despite this roadblock, the company still hopes to reach the target deadline in 2027, which is in its development agreement with St. Joseph County.
“It just got to the point where they needed to stop their project and put it on pause until either the economy changes or other factors change,” Schalliol said. “They’re aware that they’re going to have to meet [the deadline], or we’re going to have to negotiate a new period of substantial completion.”
The County Council, Redevelopment Commission and Board of Commissioners would each have to sign off on a deadline extension for the GM plant.
Schalliol said the county and General Motors are currently unaware of how long the pause will last.
“It’s for an undetermined period of time at this point,” Schalliol said. “We’ve got a year and a half at this point. … It may be that they’re out of pause by then [December 2027], or maybe they’ll still be in pause.”
Rumors of stalled construction in March
Rumors began circulating in March that the GM plant had stalled construction, and when asked about it on April 1, Schalliol said they were just that — rumors.
“According to GM reps that we’ve talked to as recently as Monday [March 30], that’s not at all true,” Schalliol said in April. “As of yesterday [March 31], there were 230 construction workers on the site.”
So what caused speculation on whether the plant was going to stall construction earlier this year?
Schalliol said an article was published on Reuters, a global news agency, where a GM representative told the publication that a opening date for the facility wasn’t released because of the unpredictable winter weather.
GM Authority, a publication that focuses on General Motors topics, released an article claiming Synergy Cells must be stalled or delayed, Schalliol said, because of the Reuters article.
Originally in April, Schalliol said that as the weather began to improve, construction would increase to allow crews to continue working on the building’s shell and interior.
Email South Bend Tribune business reporter Jessica Velez at jvelez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: General Motors and Samsung SDI battery plant to pause construction
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
