The Southeast is leading EV and battery manufacturing in the U.S., but Trump's energy policies may slow that growth

The Southeast is leading EV and battery manufacturing in the U.S., but Trump's energy policies may slow that growth

WFAE |
By Zachary Turner

Published September 19, 2025 at 11:04 AM EDT

A version of this article first appeared in WFAE's Climate Newsletter. Sign up here to receive weekly climate news straight to your inbox.

North Carolina is among the leading states in electric vehicle batteries and manufacturing, as the industry booms in the Southeast. Companies have announced over $20 billion in EV and battery manufacturing projects in North Carolina, including over 16,000 new jobs.

"Investments in EVs and batteries, particularly in Georgia and North Carolina, were the largest economic development projects ever in the history of those states," said Stan Cross, electric transportation director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which studied EV adoption.

The bulk of that investment in North Carolina comes from the $14 billion Toyota battery manufacturing plant in Liberty, N.C. The Charlotte region has seen similar investments, including those from direct current charger manufacturer Alpitronic and commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler.

"Of the top four states that have investments in manufacturing EVs and batteries and such, three of them are in the Southeast: Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee," said Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy.

Michigan was number one. EV and battery manufacturing and sales in the Southeast have grown rapidly despite less public funding. The Southeast has received slightly more than half the national average.

But storm clouds are gathering: Private investments are slowing down, and some companies have canceled projects altogether. California-based battery manufacturer Natron Energy abandoned plans to build a $1.4 billion battery manufacturing plant in Kingsboro, N.C., news outlets reported. The project promised to create 1,000 jobs in Edgecombe County. The state was prepared to reimburse costs up to 21.7 million dollars, but the company failed to raise sufficient capital to complete the project. The site would have been the country's first sodium-ion battery gigafactory.

Nigro said it's too soon to tell if these market contractions were caused by federal policy shifts.

"If I had to put my money on it, a lot of these cancellations that we've seen this year — whether we're talking about electric vehicles or batteries — were just going to happen anyway," Nigro said.

Although the Southeast lags the rest of the country, EV sales in N.C. have steadily grown since 2020. The same can be said for S.C., albeit at a much slower rate. It remains to be seen if Trump's repeal of the clean energy tax credits will cause EV sales to plateau or decrease in market share.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated nearly $5 billion to expand EV charging infrastructure through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, or NEVI.. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated nearly $5 billion to expand EV charging infrastructure. The North Carolina Department of Transportation anticipated receiving $109 million; however, the Trump administration paused the program in February and has not issued new guidance for states since.

"The entire globe is moving to electrification, and if the U.S. is going to have an auto industry in the future, we have to have a really robust electric vehicle manufacturing base," Nigro said.