The Battery Belt Is Being Repurposed, but Only Some Capacity Fits the Grid
September 16, 2026
Altsets
Research by Altsets Research
EV battery factories are being redirected toward stationary storage, but the real winners are plants and suppliers that can move into LFP cells, grid packaging, and energy storage systems without rebuilding the supply chain from scratch.
Data used:Altsets Supply Chain Intelligence: 90k+ entities, 400k+ relationships, 20+ years of history.
Key findings
- Nearly $20 billion of U.S. EV-related projects were canceled in 2025 while other factories were delayed, idled, or repurposed.
- LG Energy Solution expects five of its eight North American factories to be producing or preparing to produce energy-storage batteries by the end of 2026.
- Altsets estimates Tesla represents 19.03% of LG Energy Solution revenue while LG Energy Solution represents about 3.41% of Tesla COGS.
- Ford is retooling its former BlueOval SK Kentucky factory for LFP prismatic cells, modules, and containerized storage systems.
- Samsung SDI is using its StarPlus Energy automotive battery plant for a U.S. storage contract while planning to expand into LFP production.
- The storage pivot preserves lithium, graphite, common battery materials, equipment, and system-integration demand more directly than high-nickel cathode or automotive-specific component demand.
EV battery capacity built across the United States is finding a second market in grid storage, but the transition is highly uneven. LG Energy Solution, Ford, and Samsung SDI have credible paths to redirect parts of their manufacturing footprints toward stationary batteries. The more exposed assets are high-nickel automotive lines and the suppliers built specifically around them. For investors, the dividing line is not simply EV batteries versus grid batteries. It is whether a factory can move into LFP chemistry, large-format cells, and stationary-system integration without replacing most of what made the original plant valuable.
That distinction matters as the American Battery Belt adjusts to weaker EV demand. Reuters found that nearly $20 billion of U.S. EV-related projects were canceled in 2025, while additional factories have been delayed, idled, or repurposed. Ford now plans to use its former BlueOval SK factory in Glendale, Kentucky, for energy-storage batteries beginning in late 2027. GM and LG Energy Solution have also redirected portions of their manufacturing footprint toward storage. [1]
Storage is therefore becoming an industrial relief valve for the Battery Belt, but it is not a universal one.
The transferable asset is not the EV label. It is the combination of adaptable cell manufacturing, LFP capability, reusable plant infrastructure, and a route into stationary storage customers.
The easiest battery plants to repurpose already look more like storage plants
Grid batteries optimize for a different problem than vehicle batteries. An automaker values energy density because every additional kilogram affects vehicle range. A utility cares more about cost per stored kilowatt-hour, cycle life, safety, and predictable degradation. That is why lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, has become central to stationary storage even though U.S. and Korean manufacturers historically concentrated much more heavily on nickel-rich chemistries.
EV and grid batteries optimize for different operating priorities
Repurposing works best when the plant can change chemistry and product format without rebuilding the entire manufacturing base
| Use case | Priority described in the article | Manufacturing implication |
|---|---|---|
| Automotive battery | Energy density and vehicle range | Historically favored more nickel-rich chemistries in many U.S. and Korean programs |
| Stationary storage | Cost per stored kilowatt-hour, cycle life, safety, and predictable degradation | Creates a stronger fit for LFP and large-format stationary systems |
| Repurposed plant | Reuse of valuable manufacturing infrastructure | Requires chemistry, process, qualification, module, cooling, controls, and customer changes |
This is a qualitative comparison drawn from the article. It does not imply that every EV or grid battery uses the same chemistry or design.
Source: Altsets research
LG Energy Solution illustrates what a successful pivot requires. The company expects five of its eight North American factories to be producing or preparing to produce energy-storage batteries by the end of 2026. Its Lansing, Michigan, facility is producing storage cells while also retaining an automotive business, and LG has built a downstream route to market through LG Energy Solution Vertech, its U.S. storage-system business. [2]
This is more than spare factory utilization. LG can redirect cell production and then capture additional value through system integration, packaging, software, and long-term storage projects.
Altsets data adds another dimension. LG Energy Solution supplies Tesla, with Tesla representing an estimated 19.03% of LG Energy Solution revenue while LG Energy Solution represents about 3.41% of Tesla's COGS. Those figures describe the overall corporate relationship, not a specific Tesla vehicle or storage product, so they should not be read as evidence that the relationship is entirely tied to Megapack or EV batteries.
Repurposing production does not automatically remove customer concentration
Altsets relationship economics for LG Energy Solution and Tesla
| Relationship | Supplier Revenue % | Customer Cost % | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| LG Energy Solution to Tesla | 19.03% | 3.41% | Tesla represents an estimated 19.03% of LG Energy Solution revenue, while LG Energy Solution represents about 3.41% of Tesla COGS. |
Supplier Revenue % measures the share of LG Energy Solution revenue represented by Tesla. Customer Cost % measures the share of Tesla COGS represented by LG Energy Solution. The relationship is company-wide and not product-specific.
Source: Altsets
The asymmetry is still important. Tesla is economically meaningful to LG Energy Solution in a way that LG Energy Solution is not to Tesla's total cost base. A shift by LG toward stationary storage can diversify what its factories produce, but it does not automatically eliminate customer concentration. Repurposing production capacity and diversifying economic dependence are two separate questions.
Ford is pursuing a more dramatic version of the same strategy. Its Kentucky factory previously produced EV batteries through the BlueOval SK joint venture. Ford is now retooling the site for LFP prismatic cells, modules, and complete containerized battery systems. The facility is expected to employ about 2,100 workers, versus the roughly 5,000 jobs originally envisioned for the larger Kentucky battery complex. [1]
The important word is retooling. The building, electrical infrastructure, dry rooms, coating equipment, formation capacity, and trained workforce have substantial reuse value. The product itself is not interchangeable. Moving from an automotive battery program to a large LFP stationary battery still requires different cell designs, process adjustments, qualification work, modules, cooling systems, controls, and customer certification.
A repurposed battery plant keeps some assets and changes others
The value of the original factory survives only where the manufacturing stack transfers
- 01Reusable factory baseBuilding, electrical infrastructure, dry rooms, coating equipment, formation capacity, and trained workforce.
- 02Chemistry and cell redesignLFP chemistry, large-format cells, and different stationary duty requirements.
- 03Module and system redesignStationary modules, cooling systems, controls, and containerized products.
- 04Qualification and certificationNew customer requirements and grid-storage validation.
- 05Stationary storage marketUtility, data-center, and industrial energy-storage customers.
This diagram separates reusable plant infrastructure from the product and qualification changes described in the article.
Source: Altsets research
Samsung SDI offers another useful case. Its StarPlus Energy plant in Indiana was built with Stellantis for automotive batteries, but Samsung SDI has now contracted to produce batteries there for a U.S. energy-storage customer. Initial shipments use NCA chemistry, with the company planning to expand into LFP production. [3] That makes Samsung's manufacturing footprint more adaptable than an EV-only reading of the plant would suggest.
The upstream split may matter more than the cell factories
The storage pivot does not preserve every supplier relationship that existed around EV manufacturing.
Lithium remains necessary. Graphite remains necessary for conventional lithium-ion anodes. Separators, electrolyte, copper and aluminum foil, formation equipment, inspection systems, and portions of the broader battery-manufacturing tool chain can participate in both markets. Suppliers whose economics are tied to battery volume rather than one particular cathode chemistry therefore have a clearer path to follow production from vehicles into storage.
Nickel and cobalt exposure is different. A supplier whose Battery Belt growth plan depended on high-nickel NCM or NCA cathode production does not receive an equivalent replacement order when an EV factory converts to LFP. The new cell still requires lithium, graphite, electrolyte, separator material, and manufacturing equipment, but it removes nickel and cobalt from the cathode.
Some supplier categories transfer into storage much more cleanly than others
The chemistry shift redistributes economic value inside the original EV supply chain
| Supplier category | Transferability described in the article | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium | Higher | Still required in LFP lithium-ion cells |
| Graphite | Higher | Still required for conventional lithium-ion anodes |
| Separators and electrolyte | Higher | Common battery materials can participate across vehicle and storage applications |
| Battery manufacturing equipment | Higher | Parts of coating, formation, inspection, and production tooling can follow cell volume |
| Nickel and cobalt | Lower | LFP removes both from the cathode |
| Automotive-specific pack components | Lower | Vehicle crash structures and platform-specific pack designs do not automatically transfer to stationary containers |
This is a category-level map based on the article. It does not identify every supplier, chemistry, or component used by each plant.
Source: Altsets research
The same problem exists further downstream. EV-specific pack housings, crash structures, vehicle thermal interfaces, and components engineered around a particular automotive platform do not automatically transfer into 20-foot stationary-storage containers. By contrast, battery management systems, liquid cooling, busbars, power electronics, fire protection, switchgear, and container integration can gain a new addressable market as cell factories move toward grid applications.
That means an idled EV battery plant can be rescued while parts of its original supplier network remain stranded.
Storage is a second market, not a full replacement for EV demand
The strongest Battery Belt assets are therefore not simply the newest or largest plants. They are the plants with adaptable manufacturing processes, access to LFP technology, and an established route into utility, data-center, and industrial customers.
LG Energy Solution has cell manufacturing plus an ESS integration business. Ford is rebuilding an automotive battery site around LFP cells and complete stationary systems. Samsung SDI is using an automotive joint-venture plant to fulfill storage orders while adding LFP capability. These are credible conversions because the companies are changing both the battery and the customer channel.
The credible conversions change both the product and the customer channel
Three manufacturers illustrate different paths from automotive batteries into stationary storage
| Company | Existing manufacturing base | Storage transition described in the article |
|---|---|---|
| LG Energy Solution | North American cell factories and automotive production | Five of eight factories expected to produce or prepare for storage batteries, plus U.S. ESS integration through LG Energy Solution Vertech |
| Ford | Former BlueOval SK Kentucky battery factory | Retooling for LFP prismatic cells, modules, and complete containerized storage systems |
| Samsung SDI | StarPlus Energy automotive battery plant in Indiana | Storage supply contract using initial NCA shipments with planned expansion into LFP production |
The table summarizes the examples described in the article. It does not rank the companies or imply identical economics across their storage programs.
Source: Reuters, LG Energy Solution disclosures, and Samsung SDI
Other capacity will be harder to redirect. High-nickel lines without an LFP roadmap, specialized automotive components, and upstream nickel or cobalt projects cannot assume that grid storage will replace lost EV volumes simply because both markets use lithium-ion batteries.
The Battery Belt is being repurposed, but it is not being preserved intact. Grid storage can absorb factories, equipment, and suppliers that sit in the transferable parts of the battery chain. It cannot recreate the exact economics of the EV supply chain that those facilities were originally built to serve.
Conclusion
The investment question is no longer whether excess U.S. EV battery capacity can move into energy storage. Some of it clearly can. The more useful question is which parts of the original supply chain survive the conversion.
LFP-capable cell plants, lithium and graphite suppliers, common battery materials, manufacturing equipment, thermal management, power electronics, and system integration have the clearest bridge into grid storage. High-nickel cathode capacity and highly automotive-specific components have a much weaker one.
Storage may keep parts of the Battery Belt productive, but the repurposing will redistribute economic value inside the supply chain rather than simply transferring EV demand into a different battery market.
Sources
-
"How Trump's war on EVs derailed America's auto-factory revival," Reuters, September 15, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/investigations/how-trumps-war-evs-derailed-americas-auto-factory-revival-2026-09-15/
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"LG Energy, once fixed on EV batteries, jumps to Plan B," Reuters, August 19, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/lg-energy-once-fixed-ev-batteries-jumps-plan-b-2026-08-19/
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"SAMSUNG SDI Wins KRW 1.5 Trillion ESS Prismatic Battery Supply Deal in the U.S.," Samsung SDI, March 16, 2026. https://news.samsungsdi.com/global/press/view?seq=390
How to Cite This
According to Altsets Supply Chain Intelligence (altsets.com), the U.S. Battery Belt can be repurposed unevenly into grid storage because LFP-capable plants and transferable battery inputs have a clearer bridge than high-nickel cathode capacity and automotive-specific components.
For research inquiries or data access: press@altsets.com
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