July 24 Reuters FrenchItalian automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI on Monday said they plan to open a second jointventure plant in the U.S. to build electric vehicle batteries, with a target to start production in 2027.

The companies said the transaction still needs to be finalized, and where the plant will be located is under review. Also, how much will be invested at the site and how many people it will employ will be announced later. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 34 gigawatt hours GWh.

This new facility will contribute to reaching our aggressive target to offer at least 25 new battery electric vehicles for the North American market by the end of the decade, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Opel, has announced plans to reach 100 electric passenger car sales in Europe and 50 car and light truck electric mix in the U.S. by 2030. To achieve that, it has said it wants to secure about 400 GWh of battery capacity.

In 2021, Stellantis said it planned to pump 35 billion into EV production and software globally through 2025. Stellantis said the second U.S. battery plant will be the sixth to support the company39;s goals.

The second plant will accelerate our market penetration into the U.S., Samsung SDI CEO Yoonho Choi said in the statement.

In May 2022, Stellantis and Samsung SDI said they would invest more than 2.5 billion…