Georgia Officials Say Electric Vehicle Battery Plant Was Planned Before Inflation Reduction Act

by T.A. DeFeo

A U.S. senator for Georgia has tried to place credit for a new electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility on tax incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The problem, Georgia officials say, is the investment was agreed to before Congress even passed the IRA, and President Joe Biden signed the measure in August 2022.

Last week, Ossoff announced LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group plan to jointly build a $4.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia. The companies will each hold a 50% stake in the joint venture plant, and Ossoff said the project should create 3,000 “good paying” jobs.

“The IRA’s manufacturing incentives continue to bring jobs and investment to Georgia,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, said in a news release announcing the deal. A subhead in the senator’s release said, “Manufacturing incentives in ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ attract another major investment to Peach State.”

According to CNBC, in October, Jose Munoz, Hyundai Motor Company’s global president and chief operating officer, expressed concerns about the IRA’s requirements, saying it could have an “astronomical” impact on the company’s bottom line.

In May 2022, Hyundai said it had selected Georgia for its first fully dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility, but did not name the battery manufacturing partner. The plan calls for Hyundai to invest more than $5.5 billion in building the facility in the 2,923-acre Bryan County Megasite along Interstate 16, which officials said would create 8,100 jobs.

Georgia governments and development authorities offered more than $1.8 billion in incentives for the project.

A spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, told The Center Square the vehicle battery manufacturing facility is part of the Hyundai project announced in May 2022. At the time of the initial announcement, LG Energy Solution was not formally on board as the partner.

An LG Energy Solution spokesperson referred questions about the investment to Hyundai Motor Group’s communications team, which did not respond to requests for comment.

However, when asked about the discrepancy, Ossoff’s team has not given a full-throated defense of the senator’s suggestion that the IRA led to the LG and Hyundai announcement.

“Last week, LG and Hyundai announced a $4.3 billion joint venture to build EV batteries in Georgia,” an Ossoff spokesperson told The Center Square in an email this week. “Federal, state, and local leaders celebrated this latest investment in Georgia.

“Last week’s decision by LG to invest in Georgia is yet more unambiguous evidence that manufacturing incentives designed to attract advanced energy and EV manufacturing investments to the United States are working,” the spokesperson added. “The value of federal incentives that can accrue to LG and Hyundai from the operation of these facilities will depend upon output and U.S. sales volume once production is online.”

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T.A. DeFeo is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Jon Ossoff” by Senator Jon Ossoff. Photo “Raphael Warnock” by Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock. Background Photo “LG Energy Solution by Стоялов Максим. CC BY-SA 4.0.