Stellantis, LG Energy name EV battery JV NextStar, tap Danies Lee as CEO

Stellantis and LG Energy Solution says NextStar Energy Inc. will be the name of its joint venture battery company, and Danies Lee will be its first CEO.

The automaker and battery company are building a $5-billion electric-vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., across the river from Detroit.

NextStar Energy will be Canada’s first large-scale lithium-ion battery production plant.

Stellantis owns 49 per cent of the joint venture while South Korea-based LG Energy Solution owns the remaining 51 per cent. 

The facility will have an annual production capacity in excess of 45 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion cells and modules a year to feed the Stellantis assembly operations in Canada and the United States.

The factory will employ an estimated 2,500. 

Construction is expected to begin later this year with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024.   

The two companies received financial investment from municipal, provincial and federal levels of government. 

Lee said in a statement that he is “extremely humbled” by his appointment and that he looks forward to building NextStar’s leadership team.

Lee said the factory will “meet a significant portion of Stellantis’ vehicle production requirements in North America.”

Lee has held a series of global and regional sales and marketing roles for the promotion of lithium-ion batteries at LG Chem since 2001. He was responsible for U.S. market sales and was based in San Jose, Calif. from 2015 to 2018. Most recently, he oversaw the sales and program management of key EV battery programs for the North American market. Lee will be moving to Windsor, Ont. in the coming months. He holds a master’s degree in International Studies from Korea University, as well as an MBA from Duke University.