Stan Cross | July 15, 2024
| Clear Transportation, Electrical Automobiles, Georgia
This op-ed was written by SACE’s Electrical Transportation Director, Stan Cross. It initially appeared within the Georgia Recorder on July 3, 2024. It’s reprinted right here with permission.
For the reason that first Ford Mannequin T rolled off the meeting line in 1908, Detroit has been synonymous with the American automotive business. However within the age of the electrical automobile, amid a renaissance in home manufacturing, Georgia is quietly however confidently rising because the undisputed nationwide chief within the electrifying auto sector.
It appears like a provocative declare, however the numbers don’t lie. In response to the Clear Financial system Tracker and new knowledge evaluation just lately launched by Atlas Public Coverage and the CHARGE coalition, Georgia at present leads the nation in dedicated investments and everlasting jobs in EV and battery manufacturing, beating out each different state within the nation — together with Michigan. Since November 2021, when the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation started to encourage additional company funding in clear power, a whopping $22 billion and practically 24,000 new jobs in non-public sector EV and battery manufacturing have been introduced for Georgia.
These investments are already making an actual affect in communities throughout the state. For instance, Blue Chicken’s manufacturing facility in Peach County has taken benefit of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation’s Clear Faculty Bus program, serving to corporations shift manufacturing away from polluting diesel engines in direction of extra environment friendly electrical buses. Blue Chicken’s electrified iconic yellow buses are cleaner and safer for the youngsters who trip them and the neighborhoods during which they function. As we speak, its Fort Valley facility employs 2,000 employees in a city of solely 9,000 residents — and Blue Chicken has already introduced plans to ramp up manufacturing from two EV buses per day to twenty. Blue Chicken can be creating a “Registered Apprentice Program” to coach employees in partnership with native faculties, excessive faculties, and commerce faculties.
Hyundai is one other automaker in Georgia that has a number of EV and battery-related operations. The corporate simply entered right into a memorandum of understanding with Savannah Technical Faculty to offer potential EV business staff with coaching for jobs associated to buy operations, electrical rules, and the servicing of hybrids and EVs. Related packages now exist at Columbus and Augusta Technical Schools, too. These newly educated employees will assist rising manufacturing websites. Hyundai’s main $7.6 billion meeting plant in Ellabell is projected to create upwards of two,000 building and eight,500 everlasting jobs that can finally construct 300,000 EVs yearly. Home automakers are increasing their operations, too. The American electrical SUV and pickup truck maker Rivian plans to construct its second manufacturing facility within the state, which is anticipated to make use of 7,500 employees by 2030.
The infusion of EV and battery business funding driving this development is supported straight by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and tax credit codified by the 2022 Inflation Discount Act. FREYR, the Norwegian battery firm, selected to construct a $2.6 billion facility close to Atlanta as a substitute of Norway due to the IRA’s incentives. Out of 130 choices throughout 25 states, the Atlanta metro space was chosen attributable to its sturdy connections to air, sea, and rail ports and strong engineering workforce educated at faculties like Georgia Tech.
Throughout this chaotic election 12 months, it’s no secret that EV coverage has develop into a lightning rod for partisan politics — with Democratic leaders typically claiming to be pro-EV and Republicans in opposition to. Nonetheless, Gov. Brian Kemp just lately visited the Kia plant in West Level to have a good time the a whole lot of latest jobs accompanying the manufacturing of the EV9, an EV that gained North American Utility Car of the 12 months. Curiously, 97% of the practically 24,000 EV and battery manufacturing jobs introduced for the state because the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation are in Congressional districts represented by Republican legislators.
These EV services aren’t simply creating much-needed jobs and tax revenues for the state — they’re cementing Georgia’s place as a serious know-how hub within the rising clear power financial system. Because the governor mentioned throughout his go to to West Level’s Kia manufacturing facility, after driving the primary Georgia-built EV off the manufacturing line, “We’re working to develop into the e-mobility capital of the nation.”
