North Carolina’s rise as a clean energy hub is largely the result of rapid growth in the state’s electric vehicle (EV) and battery industries. A March report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) noted that the Tarheel State saw a “meteoric increase” of $9 billion in announced EV investments during the previous six months, which brought the total to more than $19 billion.
In terms of EV investments and jobs, North Carolina ranks third in the nation behind only Michigan and Georgia. EV battery investments have been pouring in at such a speedy clip that some people have started referring to North Carolina as the “Battery Belt.”
“I want more of these energy solutions to be based in North Carolina and exported throughout the world and the United States,” shared U.S. Senator Thom Tillis at an event hosted by Consensus. “I want the United States of America to be the majority intellectual property owner for the next generation of energy and climate solutions throughout the world,
Photo Courtesy Environmental Defense Fund
Much of that growth has been driven by Toyota, which is building an EV battery manufacturing plant in the Randolph County town of Liberty. As previously reported by The Business Download, the automaker recently decided to expand its job creation and investment targets for the plant.
Toyota now plans to invest $13.9 billion in the plant, more than 10 times the company’s initial planned investment.
Since the federal Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, Toyota has announced more than $10 billion in new funding. The company said it will create an additional 3,000 jobs at the facility, bringing its total to 5,100 new jobs.
Photo Courtesy Toyota Newsroom
In addition to Toyota, other companies that have announced plans for battery factories in North Carolina include DAI Nippon Printing, Forge Nano, VinFast, and Epsilon Advanced Materials.
Vinfast is a Vietnamese carmaker that has broken ground on a factory in Chatham County. According to a March report from WUNC, progress on the Vinfast facility has been slow “amid questions about the company’s finances.”
If completed as planned, the factory will bring about 7,500 jobs to the area.
The Raleigh News & Observer reported that Epsilon Advanced Materials aims to employ 500 people at a $650 million Brunswick County site where it plans to produce graphite components for EV batteries.
Photo Courtesy Epsilon
Growth in North Carolina’s EV battery industry has also led to a rebirth in its lithium industry. Lithium is a common component in batteries used to power EVs and provide electricity storage. Previous reporting from The Business Download noted that there used to be a thriving lithium industry in North Carolina, but it went dormant in the 1980s due to a lack of demand. That’s changing thanks to the rise in EV batteries.
Last year, Charlotte-based Albemarle Corporation — the world’s largest lithium producer — got a $90 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to help support expanded mining and lithium production for the nation’s battery supply chain.
Another company getting in on the action is Colorado-based Forge Nano, which selected Morrisville, North Carolina, over 11 other sites across the country to build its lithium-ion battery factory, WRAL reported.
Photo Courtesy Forge Nano
Ellen Robo, who co-authored the EDF report, told the Raleigh News & Observer that a rise in battery plants and related projects is the natural byproduct of a similar increase in EV manufacturing facilities.“You start building up the facilities in the state, and then they want their component manufacturers to be close by, as well, or there’s incentives for other facilities to locate geographically close to where there’s an EV manufacturing hub dynamic,” Robo said.
