New report finds it’s too soon to gauge Trump’s impact on EV industry

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. As electric truck and SUV maker Rivian broke ground on its Georgia factory Tuesday, questions swirled about electric vehicle manufacturing in the US in light of Trump administration policies. A report released the same day found that, so […]

Gov. Brian Kemp steps out of a Rivian truck at a December 2021 press event announcing the electric vehicle maker will build a factory in Georgia. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder (file photo)

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

As electric truck and SUV maker Rivian broke ground on its Georgia factory Tuesday, questions swirled about electric vehicle manufacturing in the US in light of Trump administration policies. A report released the same day found that, so far at least, the Southeast is still investing in EVs — though there are some wobbles. 

Georgia has seen a bonanza in new factories making EVs, batteries and parts in recent years. But between the Trump administration’s rollbacks of EV tax credits and the recent immigration raid at a battery plant near Savannah, some analysts have worried the EV boom is headed for a bust.

Some projects have been cancelled or paused, with a few hundred jobs retracted in Georgia, according to the new report from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. But it’s too soon to pinpoint why, the report’s authors said.

“Is that because of what Congress just did?” said Nick Nigro, a consultant with Atlas Public Policy, which compiled the report. “Or is that just the normal cycle of business?”

As Nigro noted, while much of the new manufacturing has been widely credited to the Biden administration’s policies, particularly the EV and domestic manufacturing incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, some of the projects predate that law. 

Both the massive Hyundai EV plant near Savannah and the Rivian factory east of Atlanta were announced months before the IRA passed. Republican Governor Brian Kemp has pushed to attract the electric vehicle industry to Georgia, citing the state’s business-friendly climate, and the state has offered incentives to companies building here.

The recent immigration raid at a battery plant being constructed by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution adjacent to the Hyundai factory also sent shockwaves through the industry and raised doubts about the future of foreign manufacturing on US soil. Many of those arrested were skilled South Korean workers on site temporarily to set up equipment and train American hires to take over, according to an attorney representing some of the workers – standard practice when companies set up factories overseas. But again, Nigro and SACE analysts said, it’s too soon to say what the impact of the raid will be.

“I’m sure that whatever’s happening behind the scenes at the State Department and elsewhere is trying to make sure that there’s no long-term issues as a result of what happened in that facility,” Nigro said. 

According to the report, the Southeast still lags behind the rest of the country on EV adoption — but people and businesses in the region are still buying EVs and installing chargers. Georgia falls just behind Florida and the national average for available charging ports per 1,000 customers. But Georgia is devoting less state funding to electric transportation than other states in the region, with only South Carolina spending less, according to the report.