SC Commerce wants to spend $111M to attract another electric vehicle battery plant
More electric vehicle battery manufacturing is being eyed for Florence County.
House and Senate budget writers who sit on the Joint Bond Review Committee gave their blessing Wednesday for the state to borrow $111 million to provide incentives to a company planning to manufacturer electric batteries for the automotive industry.
According to committee documents, the state would pay $43.6 million in interest on the bonds.
Final approval of the bonds will need to come from the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, which is comprised of Gov. Henry McMaster, Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Comptroller General Brian Gaines, House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister and Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler.
In order to qualify for the bonds, the company has to invest at least $400 million in the project and produce at least 400 new jobs.
The state would pay for a warehouse building on land owned by Florence County, site preparation, road improvements, water system improvements and an expansion of a training center. The work would take place between July of this year and December 2025.
The package is the latest move in the state’s effort to build an electric vehicle manufacturing industry in South Carolina.
The Department of Commerce would not comment on the proposal because the company has yet to announce its plans. Agency employees are only referring to the deal as Project Agave.
“In recent months, the project sponsor, its affiliates, and the Department (of Commerce) have negotiated for new commitments by both parties related to an additional production facility,” bond attorney Theodore B. DuBose wrote in a letter to the JBRC.
Electric vehicle battery production was already slated for Florence County, which was home to the previous Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, who steered money toward the county in order to lay the groundwork for large economic development deals before he died.
“The specter of the former chairman of finance is still hanging around,” said state Sen. Ronnie Cromer, R-Newberry, who sits on the JBRC.
Envision Automotive Energy Supply Co. previously announced plans to build a $1.62 billion facility in Florence County, and produce 1,620 jobs.
To help those plans move forward, state economic developers promised to have borrowed $121 million for the project to build training facilities, and carry out road improvements, sewer improvements and site preparation.
South Carolina promised $226 million for Redwood Materials to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Berkeley County.
Together, those two bond issues is expected to cost the state $163.9 million in interest payments according to state financial documents.
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 as Scout Motors spends $2 billion to build a plant in Richland County.
BMW’s Upstate plant in Spartanburg is carrying out a $1.7 billion transition toward making solely electric vehicles by 2030.
But not all projects are going as planned.
A lithium plant for electric vehicle batteries in Chester County has paused on its project, according to the S.C. Daily Gazette.
