German carmaker Mercedes opened a new battery factory in the southern US state of Alabama on Tuesday, a key part of its plans to ramp up production of electric cars in the US.
Chief executive Ola Källenius called it a "milestone" as he opened the factory, which is adjacent to an existing car plant.
In a few months, the two plants will churn out EQS and EQE models of the company's sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
The focus on electric vehicles is part of a corporate offensive to bring eight fully electric vehicles to market, produced in seven different sites. Facilities in Alabama have long been key to Mercedes' global export network.
"We're proud to create new, future-proof jobs to build all-electric SUVs 'Made in the USA' at a plant that is such an established part of our production family since 25 years," said Källenius.
Billions in investment
The new factory, which required billions in investment, is a partner project with battery specialist Envision AESC. It is expected to create 600 jobs.
The factory will initially be used to assemble battery cells from delivered packets, but the plan is to some day have the factory more involved in a complete production process.
Worldwide, Mercedes is opening multiple such factories, with a goal of creating total production capacity of 200 gigawatt hours by the end of the decade.
