Ultium is a North America-based battery joint venture between automaker General Motors and South Korea-based battery developer LG Energy Solutions, and will build lithium-ion battery gigafactories in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

Manufacturer Ultium plants will provide batteries for General Motors as it aims to electrify 40% of its vehicle fleet by 2025.

“DOE is not just hitting the gas to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home, it’s starting with American workers on the job, with the unions that support them, driving domestic battery manufacturing” in the U.S., U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

“This loan is a start to jump-starting domestic battery cell production; we need to reduce our dependence on other countries to meet growing demand and support President Biden’s objectives of broad EV adoption and cutting the carbon pollution created by gas-powered vehicles,” she continued.

The DOE has also been busy making loans and seeking big investments to ramp up domestic EV production, battery recycling, and battery metal supply chains since then (much of Washington has, but in Oct. Among the department’s programs are a $2.8 billion investment among 20 companies to build out the US battery supply chain and a $74 million funding package to support 10 battery recycling projects.

Other Biden administration legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, has allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure and $7 billion for critical minerals supply chains.