Car Companies Making EV Investments in America

Between supply chain issues and recent record-high gas prices, more drivers are considering purchasing electric vehicles. American automakers are shifting toward electric-vehicle production as well, though they're being outpaced by companies overseas. If U.S. production “remains slow in the face of this competition, it could lock in a reliance on imported vehicles and components, particularly batteries, for decades to come,” the Center for American Progress said in 2020. But plans for facilities to build all kinds of EVs and their batteries are taking shape, and there's a push to expand a network of charging stations nationwide. As momentum gathers, more companies are hopping on the EV bandwagon, including Hertz, which has announced plans to install chargers in low-income neighborhoods in Denver.

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Denver EV owners soon will have more public charging-station options thanks to a partnership the city has made with Hertz. As part of the rental car company's plan to add more than 5,000 EVs to its Denver fleet, it's also installing public chargers at Denver International Airport and in underserved, lower-income neighborhoods across the city. Hertz will also provide EV training and jobs through a technical high school and Denver's youth employment program. According to Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr, the Denver partnership will hopefully become a template for expanding EV services in other communities as well.

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The U.S. Postal Service said it plans to purchase 66,000 EVs by the end of 2028. That's a significant increase from the 5,000 the it said it planned to buy in February, and goes along with its goal to make 40% of its delivery fleet of 220,000 electric. The vehicle purchases and related infrastructure are expected to cost $9.6 billion, $3 billion of which is coming from the Inflation Reduction Act. Beginning in 2026, the Postal Service plans to only buy electric vehicles, phasing out gas-powered delivery vehicles altogether.

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To expand its ability to produce electric vehicles for the North American market, Japanese automaker Honda is joining forces with South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution plan to build a $3.5 billion battery plant in southern Ohio. The factory's location has yet to be determined, but Honda expects the plant to be built in Fayette County, southwest of Columbus, and to employ 2,200 workers. The automaker already employs nearly 11,000 workers in the state (where it has three automotive plants) and plans to invest $700 million to convert existing factories to EV production, adding 300 more jobs. Construction of the new plant is expected to begin early next year and be completed by the end of 2024, according to Honda. In total, the two companies are expected to spend $4.4 billion on the project.

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Toyota isincreasing the amount it's investing in a battery plant in North Carolina that's expected to open in 2025. The company plans to spend $5.6 billion on the facility, which has planned capacity to produce 800,000 batteries for EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hybrids, and “has space for another line capable of 400,000 additional units per year,” according to Autoweek. Toyota's additional investment brings with it the potential for 350 more jobs, according to the automaker, bringing total employment at the plant to about 2,100.

Ford and a South Korean supplier have committed to spending $11.4 billion on two battery plants in Kentucky and one in Tennessee, where an assembly plant also would be located, The New York Times reported in October. “The industry is on a fast road to electrification,” Ford’s executive chairman, William C. Ford Jr., said. “And those who aren’t are going to be left behind.” The project has been dubbed Blue Oval City.

In a bid to unseat Tesla as the top EV maker, General Motors and LG Energy Solution — working together as Ultium Cells — have four battery plants in the works, including operations in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan. The Ohio plant is expected to begin production of lithium-ion battery cells for EVs this year. The New York Times says the project has attracted $2.5 billion in loans from the U.S. Energy Department as part of Ultium’s $35 billion investment in EVs and autonomous vehicles by 2025.

Panasonic, which has partnered with Tesla on a gigafactory in Nevada, said in July that it plans to build a $4 billion EV battery plant in Kansas. Autoweek expects Tesla to be the largest customer of the Kansas factory.

With the help of $1.8 billion in tax breaks and other incentives, Hyundai is building a $5.5 billion plant dedicated to electric vehicles on 2,900 acres near Savannah, Georgia, The Associated Press said in July. The plant — the largest economic deal in the state’s history — is expected to hire 8,100 workers.

The state of Georgia and local governments agreed in May to $1.5 billion in incentives to bring a $5 billion Rivian Automotive plant to Atlanta, The Associated Press said. At the time, it was the largest auto assembly subsidy package in U.S. history, said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First. Rivian is a startup manufacturer of electric trucks and commercial vans based in Irvine, California.

Production is expected to start by 2025 at a $5.5 billion factory in Kokomo, Indiana, that will supply battery packs for Jeeps, Ram trucks, and other vehicles under a partnership between Stellantis and Samsung, The New York Times says. It’s the second such project from Stellantis, joining a battery factory in Windsor, Ontario, with LG Energy Solution, where it makes minivans. Stellantis (created in 2021 when Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot merged) hopes to sell 5 million EVs by 2030.

China dominates the production of cathodes and anodes — “two of the most essential and expensive components of lithium-ion batteries,” Axios says. Tesla co-founder and CEO of battery component company Redwood Materials told the publication that his company is putting $2 billion into building the components in the United States. Anode production is expected to begin this year, with cathodes to follow by 2024.

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz, which has been making cars in Alabama for decades, is investing $1 billion in a battery plant there to supply a retooled manufacturing complex making a line of electric SUVs, The New York Times says. The plant was scheduled to be fully operational in April with 600 employees.

Hyperion announced a $300 million investment in a Columbus, Ohio, facility to research and make hydrogen fuel cell stacks, including those that would power its futuristic XP-1 sports car, according to The Columbus Dispatch. That company, founded in Columbus in 2011, plans to move its HQ back to the midwest and employ 700 people.

Retail giant Walmart said in July that it was buying 4,500 all-electric vans from automotive startup Canoo — with an option for up to 10,000 vehicles — to expand its last-mile delivery fleet. (Canoo, originally a Texas company, has moved to Walmart’s hometown of Benton, Arkansas, but it says it has teams in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, and California.) The EVs “will be driven by Walmart associates and used to deliver online orders from groceries to general merchandise” from 3,800 of its stores within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, the company said. Walmart also signed an earlier deal with GM’s BrightDrop unit for 5,000 EV delivery vans.

Online-retailer Amazon has been working with EV startup Rivian since 2019 on an all-electric delivery vehicle for its Prime service, investing in the company through its Climate Pledge Fund. The company said in July that it was rolling the vans out nationwide, a push that CEO Andy Jassy says should put 100,000 of them on the road by 2030.

After taking delivery of 500 of GM’s BrightDrop commercial EV delivery vans in December, the delivery giant ordered another 2,000 the next month and hinted at a “potentially increase to 20,000 electric vans,” according to CNBC. “They have a vehicle that works as advertised and we love it,” Richard Smith, FedEx’s regional president of the Americas, said of the vehicles already making deliveries in California. “We want to buy a lot more of them.” Verizon is said to be in line for a second, smaller BrightDrop van next year.

UPS said in 2020 that it would buy 10,000 electric delivery vehicles from Arrival, taking a minority stake in the company. Arrival is a British startup, but production of the vans is expected to start this year in the U.S. and England. “The two companies are collaborating to design vehicles for drivers making dozens of daily stops, who are hauling ever-growing volumes of goods,” says Canary Media, which covers environmental issues.

EV charging network Volta plans to install another 1,000 fast-charging stalls at 500 Walgreens locations, significantly expanding a partnership between the two companies that began in 2019. “Drugstores and grocery stores are good spots for EV charging stations,” Engadget says, “since drivers can top off their battery while grabbing some essentials.” Volta was founded in San Francisco.

General Motors, Pilot Travel Centers, and Los Angeles-based EVgo said in July that they would team up to build a network of 2,000 charging stations at 50-mile intervals along U.S. highways, locating the chargers at up to 500 Flying J stations. The Detroit Free Press says construction was expected to start immediately “with the first chargers operating sometime in 2023.”

Ikea unveiled a collaboration with Electrify America in August to put more than 200 ultrafast charging stations at more than 25 of its U.S. locations by the end of 2023. The company said in a statement that the new stations would quadruple its total number of EV chargers, making them available in 18 states. Another 225 chargers are planned for use with delivery fleet electric vehicles as well. The project’s cost wasn’t disclosed.

Following similar moves by other companies, Volkswagen is “looking to establish new assembly and battery facilities in the U.S.,” according to CNBC. That’s in addition to the Tennessee plant ramping up production of its VW ID.4 crossover EV.