Electric vehicle battery builder slated to get millions more in SC incentives
South Carolina’s financial assistance to an electric vehicle battery manufacturer will increase.
After planning to borrow $71 million to help pay for work at the Envision Automotive Energy Supply Co. in Florence County, the state now plans an additional $50 million for the project.
The additional bonds were given the OK by the Joint Bond Review Committee, a panel of state House and Senate budget writers, but still needs approval from the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, a five-person panel that includes legislative budget chairmen, the governor, the treasurer and comptroller general.
State law requires economic development projects create at least 400 jobs and have at least $400 million in investment for the state to issue bonds for the project.
Envision originally planned an $810 million project which would bring 1,170 jobs to the PeeDee region. The planned facility will be located in an 870-acre Technology and Commerce Park in Florence and will occupy about 1.5 million square feet, the governor’s office said.
Now, state commerce officials say the company plans to spend at least $400 million more on the project and create at least 400 more jobs.
Envision has not yet released details of its expansion, the Department of Commerce said in an email to The State.
The state will now chip in some $121 million in total financial assistance for the project.
The state is paying for training facilities, road improvements, sewer improvements and site preparation.
The company plans to make batteries to supply BMW’s Upstate facility, which is transitioning toward making solely electric vehicles by 2030.
For the past year or more, state officials have been pushing for investments in electric vehicle manufacturing, which also included a $1.3 billion incentive package for Scout Motors to build a plant in Richland County and $226 million for Redwood Materials to build an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Berkeley County.
