Ultium Cells, the electric vehicle battery joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors, will hire 400 employees by the end of this year and 700 more by the end of next year, LG and GM said Tuesday.

Founded in December 2019, the fledgling Ultium Cells currently has staff for human resources, training and workplace safety management. It is building a $2.3 billion facility in Lordstown, Ohio, with an annual production capacity of more than 30 gigawatt-hours.

“Ultium Cells has just started hiring to begin employee training for initial leaders that will serve as key resources as we begin to install process equipment, set up production areas, validate equipment and launch production equipment,” said GM spokesperson Dan Flores.

LG Energy Solution added that the majority of the employees will be local workforce.

On Jan. 5, Ultium Cells announced it had acquired 583,000 square meters of land near the plant to achieve “flexibility” for possible expansion in the future.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)