What you need to know:
- Commercial EV batteries and energy storage systems (ESS) are LG Energy Solution's key growth areas as it shifts beyond passenger EVs, shaped by policy changes from the Inflation Reduction Act to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act and insights from ACT Expo 2026
- Fleet electrification is driven by total cost of ownership (TCO), with LGES balancing LFP batteries for cost and high-nickel batteries for range in long-haul trucking
- Solid-state batteries face manufacturing scale challenges, likely appearing first in consumer electronics before vehicles like the Tesla Semi
- LGES is advancing AI-driven battery optimization, while recycling and charging infrastructure gaps are now bigger limits than battery supply
In the volatile world of electrification, where policy swings and consumer sentiment can shift overnight, LG Energy Solution is betting that commercial vehicles—not passenger EVs—may provide the industry's most durable path forward.
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Speaking to Clean Trucking following ACT Expo 2026, LG Energy Solution (LGES) President of North America Bob Lee outlined how the battery giant is recalibrating its strategy around commercial transportation, energy storage systems, and domestic manufacturing capacity. The conversation ranged from battery chemistry and solid-state technology to AI-driven energy management and the realities of recycling infrastructure in the United States.
At the center of Lee's outlook is a pragmatic view of electrification: economics matter more than hype.
"As you went from the Inflation Reduction Act to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, there were some adjustments in policy," Lee said. "One of the things that stayed the same was the advanced manufacturing tax credit. That's really important for us."
A shift beyond passenger EVs
While federal incentives for EV buyers have weakened, LGES sees stability in manufacturing support and growing opportunities outside the passenger car market. The elimination of the $7,500 consumer subsidy, Lee explained, forced a broader reassessment of market demand.
"The consumer subsidy of $7,500 went away and that has an overall impact on the market demand," he said. "What's really changed for us over the last couple of years is we were very much focused on electric vehicles, commercial vehicles, as well as passenger vehicles. And over the past year and a half, we've shifted our focus somewhat so that we're now more balanced."
Part of that balance comes from energy storage systems (ESS), a business segment Lee described as rapidly expanding.
"We have an energy storage system business, which is really expanding, and that's taking up a lot of the volume that we're missing from the EV side," he said.
TCO drives fleet decisions
For commercial fleets, however, the equation is fundamentally different than it is for consumers. Why? Because fleet operators, generally speaking, are less interested in prestige or performance metrics than they are in hard operational economics.
"Whatever the application, the total cost of ownership is really the critical element, especially in commercial trucks and fleets, where it's really being driven by economic decisions," Lee said. "A lot of our focus with our customers right now is around affordability and total cost of ownership, not pure performance."
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That economic lens is shaping how LGES approaches battery chemistry for heavy-duty trucking. Last-mile delivery fleets have already demonstrated viable electrification models, particularly in tightly controlled urban routes.
Long-haul trucking, however, remains far more complex.
"For commercial long-haul vehicles, we've been looking at lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) batteries for five years," Lee said. "And then there's also high nickel exploration, because you have higher energy density and you can go with lighter weight. I'm not sure if we have the winning formula yet."
The uncertainty reflects a broader challenge in commercial transportation: balancing cost, range, charging time, payload weight, and infrastructure availability simultaneously.
Solid-state battery challenges
That same realism extends to solid-state batteries, a technology often portrayed as the next transformative leap for EVs. Lee believes the greatest challenge is not laboratory innovation but rather large-scale manufacturing consistency.
"The real challenge is trying to manufacture consistently across high volume," he said. "You have many different solid-state manufacturers that can produce a small quantity of battery cells. But the challenge is really trying to apply that across very large quantities."
Instead of expecting a sudden automotive breakthrough, Lee sees solid-state technology arriving first in smaller electronics.
"I would expect to see solid-state showing up more on the consumer electronics side before it shows up on the automotive side," he said. "I think the sequence will be smaller form factors before it gets to large automotive."
AI and battery performance
While battery chemistry remains central to LGES's strategy, software and AI are increasingly becoming just as important. Lee described manufacturing environments where thousands of variables must be monitored continuously to maintain cell quality and prevent defects.
"Keeping track of all of these different variables and doing preventative maintenance and preventative parameter control to try to improve quality. That's clearly an area that we're using AI directly."
The role of AI extends beyond the factory floor. In stationary energy storage systems, AI is helping optimize when batteries charge, discharge, and trade electricity back to the grid—all while protecting long-term battery health.
"We're using AI for energy management strategy," Lee said. "When to discharge your battery, when to charge and combining all of that in a way that you're optimizing your entire value proposition."
That optimization requires balancing immediate profit opportunities against battery longevity.
"Sometimes you could optimize your short-term gains if you really stress your battery... but there's a long-term downside because that will make your battery less reliable in the long run."
Lee believes educating fleet operators about battery management will become increasingly important as commercial electrification scales.
"If you keep the battery between 30% to 80% as is, then you can keep the battery going much longer," he said. "So that's a trade-off and I think we can provide some data for our fleet operator customers to explain what's the best way to optimize your battery as an entire fleet."
Recycling vs second-life batteries
On sustainability, Lee offered a measured view of battery circularity. While second-life applications for EV batteries often generate enthusiasm, he questioned whether the infrastructure is mature enough to scale efficiently.
"I'm not convinced that that path is scalable, just because it's hard to know the supply of battery packs coming in and just managing that type of an infrastructure," he said. "I do think there's room for re-use. It's just not mature enough yet."
Recycling, by contrast, appears inevitable because of the intrinsic value of battery materials.
"This is a product where the metal components in the product is highly recyclable and highly valuable," Lee said. "So we believe in being part of that entire ecosystem."
Still, he acknowledged that the U.S. trails Europe and China in recycling maturity.
"Recycling is happening in other parts of the world. We have partnerships with recycling companies in Europe and China," Lee said. "The U.S. is a little bit further behind."
Infrastructure is the batteries bottleneck
Despite broader concerns about EV demand, Lee pushed back against the notion that battery manufacturing capacity itself is the bottleneck.
"It's certainly not cell capacity," he said. "I think on the commercial vehicle side, it's probably more on the infrastructure side now."
LGES alone operates eight plants in North America, but Lee noted that gaps still exist between cell production and commercial battery pack integration, particularly for heavy-duty vehicles.
What continues to energize him, however, is the commercial sector's grounded approach to electrification.
"On the consumer side, the swings are really, really wide," Lee said. "People were euphoric five years ago, and right now I would say that mood is a little bit down."
Commercial transportation, he argued, operates differently.
"It was really encouraging to see that there are examples where the electric vehicle makes sense from a TCO point of view," he said. "Pockets of commercial vehicles might be where electrification takes off, because it is so based on economics. It's not based on fashion. It's not based on political wins."
Even emerging products like the Tesla Semi, Lee suggested, could eventually become catalysts for broader adoption.
"I plan on looking into it a little bit further to be fair," he said. "But I think there are pockets of people that are pretty excited about that product and it might have the ability to transform commercial vehicles the way like the Model 3 did to passenger vehicles. So it's possible."
