A Ford 150 Lightning photographed at Town and Country Ford in Madison, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)
As the Southeast continues to draw in electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, Tennessee ranks near the top of the list for anticipated jobs and investment, according to a new report examining electric transportation in the region.
But despite seeing the highest rate of growth in publicly accessible electric vehicle chargers — rapid charging ports increased 60% over last year in Tennessee — the state still lags well behind national and regional figures for chargers per person.
The report was the fifth annual study prepared by Washington, D.C.-based data analysis firm Atlas Public Policy for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a renewable energy advocacy nonprofit. It explores the momentum of the electric transportation industry in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Those six states have more than 100 facilities dedicated to electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing, making up 31% of the 238,000 EV jobs announced in the U.S. as of June. Of $205 billion in announced investments in the EV industry in the United States, 38% will land in the Southeast region, according to the report.
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Georgia ranks highest in the region with 27,394 total anticipated EV manufacturing jobs, with Tennessee’s 16,164 expected jobs coming in second.
Tennessee’s high ranking is in large part due to a Ford electric vehicle plant and battery manufacturing plant under construction in rural West Tennessee. BlueOval City and BlueOval SK, a joint venture of Ford and SK On, represents a $5.6 billion investment and accounts for 5,800 anticipated jobs once the site is up and running.
While growth in EV manufacturing continues, the report notes that southeastern states have struggled with engaging utilities and expanding charging infrastructure.
“Addressing these areas will be crucial for the region to fully capitalize on its potential in the evolving EV landscape,” the report states.
Market share
Tennessee’s 4.5% EV sales market share for light-duty vehicles in the Southeast falls near the middle of the pack, above Alabama and South Carolina but significantly below North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, which ranks first with an 8.9% market share.
Tennessee logged 43,319 cumulative EV sales between July 2023 and June 2024, the report states. That’s an annual growth of 42%, exceeding the national average of 37%.
New light-duty EV sales dipped in the first quarter of 2024, nationally and in the Southeast, but sales have begun to trend back up in most southeastern states, according to the report.
Charging ports
Tennessee saw the highest rate of growth in publicly accessible rapid EV chargers, increasing by 60% compared with last year. But the state’s 0.31 chargers per 1,000 people still falls well under the national average of 0.53, and 0.40 in the Southeast.
Tennessee has 583 fast-charging ports and 1,558 other charging ports, according to the report.
Tennessee and Georgia are the only two states in the study area to award federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding to build chargers where they are lacking along busy thoroughfares.
Tennessee awarded $21.9 million from the first round of NEVI funds for 31 fast-charging sites along the state’s major highways in January 2024. The money was matched by $10.7 million in private-sector investments.
Construction and production delays
The report notes that a Rivian plant in Georgia and a VinFast facility in North Carolina have delayed construction “due to unforeseen challenges or barriers to starting up production,” while Hyundai’s Metaplant in Georgia is moving ahead of schedule.
Ford announced in August that it would delay production at BlueOval City until 2027 as the company shifts its strategy toward prioritizing hybrid vehicles and lowering battery production costs. Ford initially planned to launch production of its next-generation pickup truck in 2025.
BlueOval SK at BlueOval City will begin producing battery cells in late 2025 to power electric commercial vans produced at the company’s Ohio assembly plant. BlueOval SK will begin manufacturing batteries for Ford’s E-Transit and F-150 Lightning at its Kentucky battery plant in mid-2025.
Public funding
Only Alabama increased state funding for electric transportation in the last year, the report states.
Tennessee ranks second in the region for public funding per capita with a total $277 million approved, $266.5 million which comes from federal government programs.
The report doesn’t include loans or tax credits in states’ public funding totals.
Tennessee lawmakers approved a $900 million incentive package for Ford in October 2021, including a $500 million reimbursement for construction work on the megasite. The funding is contingent on job creation.
The federal government also offers tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act for production of batteries and battery materials and advanced energy products, the report notes. Thus far, two projects in Alabama and one project each in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina will take advantage of those credits, according to the report.
Union activity
The last 12 months have seen aggressive campaigning from the United Auto Workers union in auto manufacturing plants throughout the country. Following UAW’s strike against Detroit’s “Big Three” (Ford, General Motors and Stellantis) in 2023, the UAW announced that it would commit $40 million toward organizing through 2026, focusing on the South, the report states.
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The unionization campaign drew opposition from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in addition to the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. “Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy,” the governors wrote in a joint statement issued in April.
Tennessee had two major union developments at automotive plants in 2024. In April, 4,300 Volkswagen Chattanooga employees became the first Southern auto workers outside of the Big Three to unionize. In September, Spring Hill’s Ultium plant, a joint venture from General Motors and LG Energy Solution, notched another union victory. The plant shipped its first battery cells to General Motors in March, two and a half years after breaking ground at the new facility.
Outside of Tennessee, United Steelworkers ratified their first contract at the Blue Bird facility in Georgia in 2024. But a union vote at an Alabama Mercedes-Benz plant failed in May.
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