Florence County To Get $2B Electric Vehicle Battery Plant Tied To BMW

From Staff Reports

FLORENCE — The Charleston Post aand Courrier is reporting a Japanese company will supply electric vehicle battery components to BMW’s Spartanburg County manufacturing facility is planning to open a $2 billion plant in Florence County that could employ as many as 1,300 workers.
Envision AESC’s plant making electric vehicle battery cells would help change the economic profile of the state’s 13th-largest county, which is quickly moving away from its farming roots to now landing manufacturing plants and distribution centers stated the article.

The battery plant would be one of the Pee Dee region’s largest-ever industrial projects. Florence is attractive to businesses because it sits at the intersection of two major interstates: 20 and 95.

Envision announced Oct. 19 that it would build a plant somewhere in South Carolina to supply BMW’s Upstate plant with lithium-ion battery cells for future electric vehicles. The cells are expected to boost the range of BMW’s electric models produced in Spartanburg County by 30 percent by 2030, Envision said in a statement.

An Envision spokeswoman said the company will “announce further details shortly” and had no further comment. A BMW spokesman said he did not know where the plant was going. The S.C. Department of Commerce said it does not comment on development projects. Florence County officials declined comment.

While the outline of the deal was confirmed by two sources with direct knowledge, some key details that remain unclear include the plant’s location and projected opening date. Envision operates a battery cell plant in Tennessee and is building another in Kentucky.

A legislative panel that reviews large expenditures appeared to have approved economic incentives for Envision, which was co-founded by Japanese automaker Nissan.

An economic-development prospect code-named “Project Samurai” that makes automobile components received up to $205 million in incentives that were approved Oct. 18 by S.C. Joint Bond Review Committee. As part of the incentives, “Project Samurai” is being offered $70 million for roadwork and utility improvements and to build a worker training center.

In 2021, the Palmetto State had about $800 million in investment and about 800 jobs connected to building and supporting electric vehicles, according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The businesses include Greenville electric bus manufacturer Proterra.

That was before BMW announced $1.7 billion in investment at its plant near Greer.

About $1 billion will be spent to renovate the existing plant to produce electric vehicles with another $700 million to build a new high-voltage battery assembly facility in Woodruff, about 15 miles from the BMW campus.

The new 1-million-square-foot facility will create 300 jobs. The entire BMW plant employs 11,000 workers.

The Spartanburg County plant already produces two plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the X3 xDrive30e and X5 xDrive45e, along with their batteries. Production will begin on another electric hybrid model, called BMW XM, in December. By 2030, BMW plans to build at least six fully electric models in South Carolina.

Cells like the ones Envision produces are the individual power storage units assembled together inside an electric vehicle’s battery. An EV will have dozens or even hundreds of cells to store and supply the large amount of power it needs to run.