One of the biggest EV battery bets in the Midwest is on pause. General Motors and Samsung SDI are building a roughly $3.5 billion battery cell plant in New Carlisle, Indiana, a joint venture sized for more than 30 gigawatt-hours of annual capacity. Construction is being paused once the building’s exterior is complete, while the partners align output with softer-than-expected EV demand.
Project Scope
Barton Malow leads construction on the plant, which is designed to produce nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells for GM’s electric vehicles. At full staffing the site would employ around 1,700 workers. The companies selected the St. Joseph County location in 2023 and originally aimed to start production in 2026 before pushing the target back and, more recently, slowing the work to match the market.
Why It Matters
The pause is the story. The battery-plant boom of the past few years assumed EV adoption on a steep curve, and demand has come in flatter, leaving automakers to retime capacity they already broke ground on. Finishing the shell and stopping is a hedge: it protects the investment and lets the partners ramp when demand returns, without carrying the cost of a fully fitted-out plant sitting idle. For the region’s building trades, it means a wave of work now and an uncertain restart date later.
Project Team & Details
| Developer | General Motors / Samsung SDI JV |
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| Owner / Client | General Motors / Samsung SDI |
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| General Contractor | Barton Malow |
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| Status | On Hold |
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| Funding Source | Private |
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