Samsung SDI Begins Kokomo LFP Battery Shipments on 60 GWh Order Book

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Samsung SDI began mass-producing prismatic LFP cells for energy storage at its Starplus Energy plant in Kokomo in early October, with cell shipments starting mid-October and finished Battery Box units reaching customers in December. Executive Vice President Cho Yong-hwi said the company has booked more than 60 gigawatt-hours of U.S. storage orders this year, enough to run the Kokomo and Ulsan, South Korea lines at full capacity through 2028. Three of Starplus Energy's four lines have now been converted from Stellantis EV production to storage cells, pushing EV output at the site to the first quarter of 2027. Two more lines are converting for phased startup in the first half of 2027. For Howard County, the practical effect is that Kokomo is becoming a grid-storage cell plant first and an EV battery plant second, and the hiring pipeline there is shifting toward storage cell technicians rather than EV assembly.

Impact

Samsung SDI is positioning Kokomo as the only non-Chinese-owned prismatic ESS cell plant producing in the U.S., a moat reinforced by Section 301 tariffs that jumped to 25% on Chinese batteries Jan. 1, 2026, and a new federal order barring 'Covered Foreign Entities' battery equipment from the bulk power grid. The same campus is also feeding AI data-center battery backup demand, and three of StarPlus Energy's four lines have now been converted from Stellantis EV production to ESS, pushing EV output there to Q1 2027 and shifting the local hiring pipeline toward ESS cell technicians instead of EV assembly.

Watch

Phased startup of the two newly converted ESS lines at Starplus Energy, slated for 1H 2027, and whether Stellantis EV battery production actually resumes there in Q1 2027 as currently scheduled.

For the huddle

If Starplus Energy's EV lines keep getting deferred in favor of ESS, should we be rethinking which of our own supplier contracts assume Kokomo is primarily an EV battery source versus a grid-storage cell source?

Yes. Three of Starplus Energy's four lines have converted from EV to storage production and roughly two-thirds of the current $8.5 billion national auto component investment wave is going into gasoline and transmission tooling, not EV lines.

Sources

Samsung SDI books 60 GWh of U.S. storage orders and begins Indiana LFP ESS production · en.sedaily.com

Earlier coverage

From the brief, November 4, 2026

Samsung SDI Begins Kokomo LFP Battery Shipments on 60 GWh Order Book
Indiana Office of Energy Development Pitches Nuclear and SMRs Amid Data Center Moratoriums
AEP Creates AEP Infrastructure Unit as Indiana Michigan Power Races to Serve 3.1 GW of Data Center Load
$8.5 Billion Auto Component Wave Includes Stellantis Kokomo Engine Line Expansion
September Factory Orders Beat Expectations as Tariff-Driven Margin Squeeze Builds

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