The big-name backers of Amplify Cell Technologies have pushed back indefinitely the start of battery cell production at the Mississippi plant they began building, citing the uncertain state of the commercial electric vehicle market.
Executives at Cummins, Daimler Truck, and Paccar in June 2023 announced their plan to set up Amplify with between $2 billion and $3 billion in backing, with each taking a 30% stake in the venture while Chinese battery maker EVE Energy took a 10% stake as Amplify’s technology partner. A year later, teams broke ground on a 21-gigawatt-hour factory in Byhalia, Mississippi. The goal: To have more than 2,000 employees start cranking out batteries in 2027.
That timeline has now been shelved, and no new target has been set. In recent comments to analysts as well as regulatory filings, leaders of Cummins, Daimler, and Paccar—who have invested roughly half of the $830 million they each committed to put to work in Amplify—said that the lighter-than-expected demand for battery electric trucks in North America has led them to hit the pause button.
Construction crews will finish building out the Mississippi plant’s structure but not yet install its equipment.
“We agreed with our Amplify Cell Technologies joint venture partners to defer the installation of manufacturing capacity,” Daimler Truck President and CEO Karin Rådström said on the OEM’s first-quarter earnings call May 6. “Limited construction will continue to ensure that the joint venture remains well-positioned for the future while maintaining flexibility.”
