Prime Highlights:

• Envision AESC suspends installing equipment at its almost finished $1.6 billion battery factory in South Carolina because of increased U.S.–China trade tensions.
• Tariff fears and possible loss of federal incentives make the Chinese-owned company reconsider project timing.

Key Facts:

• The building is complete, but bringing in machinery from China currently has tariffs up to 145%.
• AESC has also already spent more than $1 billion on the project and was set to generate 1,600 jobs.
• BMW, the plant’s primary customer, is still on track to launch its own battery assembly plant in 2026.

Key Background :

Envision AESC, a Chinese-backed global battery maker, has suspended work at its electric vehicle battery plant in Florence, South Carolina. Although the building is finished, the firm has suspended the installation of essential manufacturing machinery amid great uncertainty in U.S. trade policy and clean-energy subsidies.

The action comes on the heels of the U.S. government having tightened significantly the tariffs on Chinese-manufactured industrial equipment and materials—some with tariffs as high as 145%. These prices have rendered it economically risky to import similar machinery essential to initiate production for companies such as Envision AESC. Compounding the pressure, new federal legislation is proposed that would cap or abolish clean-energy tax credits for Chinese-connected companies.

Envision AESC had pledged a total investment of $1.6 billion into the Florence location and pledged to create approximately 1,600 jobs. More than $1 billion has already been spent by the company but is now holding out for greater regulatory certainty before proceeding. South Carolina state officials are still in support of the project with about $256 million in state and local incentives remaining in effect.

This holdup mirrors wider uncertainties within the EV and clean-energy production industry in the U.S. Multiple companies have put expansion plans on the backburner or shelved them entirely as federal incentives are challenged by political resistance and global trade tensions rise. The Florence plant is part of a broader supply arrangement with German automaker BMW, which is constructing its own battery assembly plant in nearby Woodruff, South Carolina.

Although the delay, BMW has assured that its factory is still scheduled to start production in 2026. The Woodruff factory will get battery cells from Envision AESC as soon as the Florence factory starts operating. For the moment, the battery producer reiterates that the project is not shelved but temporarily delayed awaiting better financial and regulatory conditions.

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