EV battery factory incentives receive OK

Mississippi site near Tennessee could add 2,000 jobs.

Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday gave broad, bipartisan approval to state incentives for a factory that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles a project that promises 2,000 jobs with an average salary of about $66,000.

After legislators voted, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves named the four companies involved.

Accelera by Cummins, Daimler Truck and PACCAR, which manufacture big trucks, will each own 30%. A China-based lithium battery maker, EVE Energy Co., Ltd., will own 10%.

The companies intend to invest about $1.9 billion for the plant in Marshall County, near the Tennessee state line. It would be the second-largest corporate investment in Mississippi history, Reeves said.

“For far too many years, technology was developed in the United States, and that technology was taken to China and manufactured in China,” Reeves said.

“The reality is, we need to bring jobs back to America.”

U.S. manufacturing of EV batteries is accelerating as automakers transition to EVs. The Inflation Reduction Act offers $7,500 in tax credits for consumers purchasing EVs, but only if vehicles and batteries are assembled in North America and include minerals mined or processed domestically.

The U.S. Treasury Department must approve plans for the plant in Mississippi, said Republican Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia, chairman of the state House Ways and Means Committee.

“We are living in a global economy,” Lamar said.

“The fact that we have companies that may be coming from outside of the United States to invest and provide jobs to Americans is a good thing.”

The state incentive package amounts to about $365 million, which includes costs of site development at Chickasaw Trails Industrial Park.

The House rejected two proposals by Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez — one that would have required the plant to hire 70% of its employees from Mississippi and one that would have required the plant to invest in other projects to benefit Marshall County.