StarPlus Energy Is Converting Everything at Once. The Evidence Trail Is Thin.

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StarPlus Energy LLC | Kokomo, Indiana (two facilities) | Samsung SDI / Stellantis JV | Announced capacity: 34 GWh (Plant 2, per Investopedia; Plant 1 capacity not specified in accessible founding disclosures) | Combined investment: >$6.3B | Chemistry: NCA (original), LFP (mass production targeted Q4 2026) | Application: EV (original), ESS (partial line conversion stated since Q4 2025)

Company-stated status (2026-03-24): Active JV with "gradual conversion" of some EV lines to ESS underway since Q4 2025. LFP mass production targeted Q4 2026. Samsung SDI describes StarPlus as "its joint venture with Stellantis." (Samsung SDI, 2026-03-24)

Assessed status: Multi-dimensional conversion in progress. Three transformations stated simultaneously: application (EV→ESS), chemistry (NCA→LFP), materials sourcing (L&F Korean cathode). Independent observable confirmation is thin relative to stated scope. DOE conditional commitment ($7.54B) remains open after nineteen months. No public MACR calculation, supplier-certification file, or 45X credit claim record has been disclosed for this facility as of 2026-07-04.

The Ledger

2022-05 — Stated: Samsung SDI and Stellantis announce first StarPlus Energy plant in Kokomo. $3.1B investment, approximately 1,400 jobs, SOP early 2025. Observed: Indiana offered up to ~$186.5M in conditional tax credits, training grants, and infrastructure investments. Conditions not publicly disclosed. Gap: Whether EV-to-ESS conversion or chemistry change triggers milestone review under Indiana's incentive agreement is unknown. The conditionality is visible; the conditions are not.

2023-10-11 — Stated: Samsung SDI and Stellantis announce second Kokomo plant. $3.2B, 34 GWh, ~1,400 additional jobs, SOP early 2027. Combined investment exceeds $6.3B. Observed: Consistent with local reporting at the time. Gap: None identified.

2024-12-02 — Stated: DOE commits up to $7.54B in loan support for StarPlus Energy to build two EV battery plants in Kokomo. Expected to support at least 2,800 plant jobs. Observed: AP reported the loan "still had to be finalized" subject to technical, legal, environmental, financial, and community/labor-planning conditions. This is a conditional commitment, not a closed loan. Gap: The DOE commitment was framed explicitly around EV battery production. No public DOE statement has been identified addressing whether partial ESS conversion, LFP chemistry addition, or application-mix changes affect the commitment's terms or finalization timeline. As of 2026-07-04, no public confirmation that the loan has closed.

Q4 2025 — Stated: Samsung SDI's March 2026 release says StarPlus has been:

since Q4 2025.

Observed: No independent confirmation of line conversion activity located. No WARN Act filing identified for StarPlus or Samsung at Kokomo in the Indiana DWD database (checked 2026-07-04). No equipment-supplier order references, construction permits for line modification, or third-party reporting on the conversion identified in this pass. Job posting activity for StarPlus/Samsung SDI at Kokomo was not systematically examined; this signal remains unverified. No Stellantis public statement on the EV-to-ESS conversion identified as of 2026-07-04. Gap: The conversion is company-stated only. The absence of a WARN filing is consistent with worker redeployment rather than reduction, which aligns with the stated narrative. Alignment, though, carries less weight than independent confirmation. The conversion's physical scope, line count, and GWh volume remain unspecified. Stellantis's silence is notable given its public reshaping of EV strategy across other programs.

2026-03-24 — Stated: Samsung SDI announces KRW 1.6T (~$1.04B) LFP cathode deal with L&F, three-year term starting 2027, with option to extend three additional years. StarPlus "expected to mass-produce LFP batteries from Q4 2026." Observed: The L&F supply agreement starts in 2027. The stated LFP mass production target is Q4 2026. This creates a minimum two-quarter gap between stated mass production and stated cathode supply. No alternative LFP cathode source for the Q4 2026 ramp has been publicly identified. Samsung SDI's battery segment posted a KRW -177B operating loss in Q1 2026 (Samsung SDI quarterly earnings disclosure, Q1 2026), providing financial context for the conversion's urgency. Gap: If LFP mass production begins Q4 2026 and L&F cathode supply begins 2027, cathode for the initial ramp must come from an undisclosed source, from pre-delivery inventory, or the Q4 2026 target is aspirational. Samsung SDI's release does not address this sequencing. Separately: L&F's Korean-sourced cathode addresses PFE restrictions on Chinese-entity materials, but cathode is one constituent among several (anode, electrolyte, separator, current collectors) required for MACR compliance. Cathode sourcing alone leaves the rest of the MACR bill of materials unaddressed.

2026-07-04 — Stated: No public compliance disclosure has been made by StarPlus Energy or Samsung SDI regarding MACR calculations, supplier-certification files, or 45X credit claims for the Kokomo facilities. Observed: No public MACR calculation identified. No supplier-certification file publicly available. No 45X credit claim record disclosed in Samsung SDI's accessible earnings materials or press releases. No public disclosure of whether L&F's Korean-sourced LFP cathode contributes to MACR compliance at the 2026 threshold (60% non-PFE). Gap: These are recorded as absences, not as inferences of non-compliance. No public facility-level 45X claims registry exists; this opacity applies industry-wide.

Trajectory Assessment

The gap between StarPlus's founding public bargain and its observable trajectory has widened at every entry since late 2024. The corporate structure anchoring that bargain remains formally unchanged: Stellantis has not exited, the JV has not dissolved, the DOE conditional commitment has not been withdrawn, and the Indiana incentive package has not been publicly renegotiated. Beneath that stable frame, the facility's stated product, chemistry, end-market, and materials sourcing path have all shifted.

The three conversion dimensions, summarized by evidence status:

• Application (EV→ESS): company-stated since Q4 2025, no independent confirmation located.
• Chemistry (NCA→LFP): company-stated for Q4 2026 mass production, with a cathode sequencing tension between the production target and the 2027 L&F supply start.
• Materials sourcing (L&F Korean cathode): contract disclosed, but supply start post-dates the production target, and cathode sourcing alone leaves the broader MACR compliance picture unresolved.

The cathode sequencing tension is the sharpest signal. A company announcing mass production in Q4 2026 while contracting cathode supply starting 2027 is either working from an undisclosed interim source or signaling a timeline that is aspirational at announcement. Both are common in battery manufacturing. Neither is resolvable from public sources today.

Three resolution points to watch:

1. Whether DOE finalizes the $7.54B loan given the application-mix shift from the original EV framing.
2. Whether Q4 2026 LFP production materializes without L&F cathode flowing.
3. Whether Indiana's conditional incentive package survives a product identity bearing diminishing resemblance to the original commitment.

Contrasting Case: SK Battery America, Commerce, Georgia

SK Battery America's $2.6B Commerce plant, opened January 2022, sharpens the boundary between a facility changing what it does and a facility doing less of the same thing. SK laid off 958 workers (~37% of workforce, last day March 6, 2026, per WARN notice reported by AP), leaving approximately 1,600. The trigger was Ford's December 2025 cancellation of the fully electric F-150 Lightning. SK said the reduction was made to "align operations to market conditions" and that it "remains committed to Georgia" while "pursuing future customers, including in the Battery Energy Storage System arena."

Commerce is a demand-stressed operational asset. Its contraction is visible and internally consistent: the WARN filing, Ford's public cancellation, and the spokesperson's language all point the same direction. At StarPlus, the conversion is company-stated with no independent confirmation and at least one internal sequencing tension. Both facilities reference ESS as a forward path. SK names it as aspiration from a position of visible contraction. Samsung SDI names it as already underway, with no countervailing workforce signal to check it against.

Context Reference: BlueOval SK, Kentucky

Ford's disclosure of an ownership and DOE-obligor transfer at BlueOval SK Kentucky represents a conversion along a third dimension: financing and corporate structure rather than application or chemistry. The DOE's public project page has lagged this corporate disclosure. Readers tracking ownership-level changes should monitor BlueOval SK separately. The specific 8-K filing date and the nature of the DOE page discrepancy were not independently verified in this pass; both are flagged for future confirmation.

Last verified: 2026-07-04. Indiana WARN database checked on this date. Federal offices closed for Independence Day weekend; DOE LPO and IRS disclosure databases reflect publicly available information as of this date.