South Korean battery manufacturer SK On will lay off 958 employees at its battery cell production facility in Commerce, Georgia, reducing about 37% of the plant’s workforce as electric vehicle demand in the United States slows, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The job cuts affect workers at the SK Battery America facility, which currently employs 2,566 people. The plant produces battery cells used in several electric vehicle models as well as energy storage systems.
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The factory has supplied batteries for vehicles including the now-discontinued Ford F-150 Lightning pickup, the U.S. version of Volkswagen’s ID.4, and models from Hyundai and Kia. The site also manufactures battery cells used in stationary battery energy storage systems.
In a statement provided to Bloomberg, the company said the layoffs were part of an operational adjustment.
“To align operations to market conditions, SK Battery America has made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce,” the company said, adding that it remains committed to maintaining its presence in Georgia and continuing to develop a domestic battery supply chain in the United States.
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The layoffs come amid broader uncertainty in the U.S. electric vehicle market, including policy changes affecting EV incentives. The $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicle purchases expired on Sept. 30, 2025, and emissions regulations for internal combustion vehicles were relaxed.
Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff criticized the policy changes, saying they had affected the state’s emerging battery manufacturing sector.
“Let’s be clear: these were battery manufacturing jobs and now they’re gone,” Ossoff said in a statement. “As predicted, Trump’s war on electric vehicles is hurting Georgia’s economy. We were booming and building new plants. Now Georgians are losing their jobs.”
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SK Innovation began constructing the battery plant in Commerce in 2019 and later added a second facility, bringing the total investment to about $2.6 billion. The site was designed to produce up to 22 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity annually, enough to power roughly 300,000 electric vehicles.
Mass production at the first plant began in January 2022, initially supplying batteries for Volkswagen’s ID.4, while production at the second plant started in early 2023 with cells for the Ford F-150 Lightning.
SK Battery America later became part of SK On after SK Innovation reorganized its battery business in 2021.