A major Japanese battery maker has stopped construction on a $1.6 billion plant in South Carolina, citing “policy and market uncertainty” tied to electric vehicles and global trade.
Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC) said Thursday it’s temporarily halting work on the factory in Florence, which is meant to supply batteries for electric BMWs made in the state.
The company didn’t list specific concerns, but South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster pointed to worries over changes to federal EV tax credits, incentives for clean energy businesses, and potential new tariffs under President Donald Trump.
“We’re urging caution,” McMaster said. “Let things play out — all these changes are happening at once.”
AESC has pledged to restart construction, though it hasn’t given a timeline. It says it will still meet its promise to hire 1,600 workers and invest $1.6 billion, and has already spent $1 billion on the site.
The Florence plant is meant to supply battery cells to BMW, which is building its own assembly plant nearby. BMW says the AESC delay won’t affect its timeline to open in 2026.
South Carolina had previously pulled back $111 million in planned incentives after AESC scaled down its original plans. But the company is still set to receive $135 million in grants and $121 million in state bonds.
The pause comes as other clean energy projects in the U.S. are also facing uncertainty tied to Trump’s trade stance. An earlier analysis found $14 billion worth of clean energy projects have been canceled nationwide.
Still, South Carolina continues to bet big on EVs. Scout Motors, owned by Volkswagen, plans to open a $2 billion plant in the state in 2027 to build electric SUVs.
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 4th of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov following recent military strikes carried out by the United States and Israel on targets in Iran, as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.
A torpedo from a U.S. submarine has sunk an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth told reporters. The Sri Lankan navy carried out a rescue operation for dozens of sailors in the wake of the strike.
The U.S. embassy in Riyadh was hit by two drones resulting in a limited fire and some material damage, the kingdom's defence ministry said in a post on X on Tuesday, citing an initial assessment.
South Korea will soon cease to be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not function fully, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade-old policy and approved the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers.
New research suggests 40,000-year-old carved objects from south-western Germany bear repeated marks arranged in organised sign sequences similar to early proto-cuneiform, although they are not regarded as a form of writing.
The chief executive of Google DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, has called for more urgent research into the risks posed by artificial intelligence, warning that stronger safeguards are needed as systems become more advanced.
NASA successfully completed a critical fueling rehearsal on Thursday (19 February) for its giant moon rocket, Artemis II, after earlier hydrogen leaks disrupted preparations for the next crewed lunar mission. The launch is scheduled for 6 March, according to the latest information from NASA.
ByteDance will take steps to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property on its artificial intelligence (AI) video generator Seedance 2.0, the Chinese technology firm said on Monday.
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