Georgia occupies a crucial position in the Southeast battery supply chain. As the region’s leader in electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing investment, the state is a key market for batteries produced locally. Since 2018, Georgia has announced over $27.3 billion in investments to manufacture electric mobility products, including Kia’s West Point manufacturing facility, Hyundai’s Bryan County Metaplant, and Rivian’s upcoming Atlanta East Coast headquarters and Social Circle, GA manufacturing facility. This rapid growth in manufacturing has attracted suppliers to the state and sent a clear demand signal for the region that the industry is here.
Georgia’s success in attracting EV companies to build large scale final assembly plants is creating opportunity for other states in the region to benefit from the development of an end-to-end battery supply chain. States across the region are leaning into their individual strengths to take advantage of new opportunities afforded from different parts of the value chain, including mineral sourcing, mid-stream manufacturing, and battery recycling. This growth across Georgia and the broader region’s economy is fundamental to supporting the long-term success of the robust EV ecosystem in the state. Each state in the region has a role to play in establishing a cluster of new technology development and industry growth and stands to gain significant job creation and economic benefits.
Convening Industry Stakeholders to Support Regional Development
On November 5, C2ES cohosted a roundtable with the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute to highlight the current industry landscape in Georgia and explore actions to secure the domestic battery and critical materials supply chain in the region. The event brought together over 45 stakeholders from the Georgia and across the Southeast to discuss supportive strategies and next steps for an industry at an inflection point in its development.
Several key themes emerged throughout the event:
Workforce development is a linchpin for the long-term growth potential of the industry.
There was broad agreement that Georgia must build on its existing workforce development programs to broaden access to training for emerging sectors. The battery industry provides new career pathways in advanced manufacturing and innovation in a sector that may be unfamiliar to jobseekers. Participants suggested that the industry should engage with technical colleges to identify more direct opportunities to support training, and the need for educational campaigns to increase young students’ awareness of opportunities in the battery sector.
Commercialization pathways must be clearer for the new technological innovations emerging from Southeast research institutions.
Currently, gaps exist in the translation of new technologies from concepts developed in a lab to real-world companies with commercial offerings. This is due in part to a lack of early-stage investors for the battery industry in the Southeast. Further challenges exist in the funding landscape for nascent companies, who are challenged to secure capital to prove the scalability of their technologies. Roundtable participants called for more integrated partnerships between industry and research institutions, and more education of investors on the Southeast battery landscape to facilitate the commercialization of newly developed technologies.
New battery and material manufacturing facilities in the Southeast need near-term policy support to be more competitive on global price today.
To develop an American battery industry that is competitive in the long term with other global producers, Southeast states must invest today in building out an industrial base for battery material manufacturing. This includes near-term policy support and industry actions to enable producers to compete on price in the global market currently dominated by mature actors that benefit from low input costs and economies of scale. Participants identified several ways to lower costs for manufacturers, including providing access to low-cost renewable energy, offering preferential funding terms for new manufacturing lines, and supporting increased high-volume scale automated manufacturing processes.
Developing a Policy Roadmap for the Southeast Battery Industry
Over the past year, C2ES has hosted four roundtables related to the battery and critical material industry across the Southeast. Throughout the series, participants collaboratively developed a set of near-term, actionable recommendations to drive the industry forward. This includes conversations hosted in the following states, each of which includes takeaways and recommendations from the conversation:
In the coming days, C2ES will compile and publish the takeaways from the roundtable Atlanta, Georgia. Next year, participants from each event and other stakeholders will reconvene for a regional summit to turn ideas into action and build a path forward for a secure, resilient Southeast U.S. battery materials supply chain.
