South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor will begin construction of a $5.5 billion electric vehicle and battery plant in Georgia this month. This is part of the Hyundai Group’s $10 billion investment commitment by 2025 to foster future mobility in the U.S., including production of EVs.
Hyundai plans to start production in the first half of 2025 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.
“This is Hyundai’s form of driving future mobility in the United States, including the production of electric vehicles,” Hyundai said, quoted by Reuters on Sunday, October 16, 2022.
The breakthrough comes amid anger from Korea and the European Union over the US electric vehicle tax policy.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed by US President Joe Biden in August, requires electric vehicles assembled in North America to qualify for a tax credit in the US.
But the rules exclude Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Corp from subsidizing electric vehicles, as they do not yet manufacture vehicles there together with major European automakers.
The regulation makes about 70 percent of electric vehicles ineligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500 per vehicle.
Biden has expressed a willingness to resume talks with South Korea on the regulation recently denying subsidies to most foreign electric vehicle manufacturers.
Kia Corp to build electric vehicles in the US from 2024 to get EV tax credit
