S.C. Pee Dee Battery Plant: Deader Than a Doornail

by WILL FOLKS

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It’s been seventeen months since Japanese-owned electric vehicle battery manufacturer AESC announced it was “pausing” construction on its $1.6 billion manufacturing plant in Florence, South Carolina. This heavily taxpayer-subsidized facility – which was supposed to employ an estimated 1,620 people – was more than 75% complete at the time of the shocking announcement.

“AESC has informed the state of South Carolina and our local partners that due to policy and market uncertainty, we are pausing construction at our South Carolina facility at this time,” the company announced last June. “We anticipate being able to resume construction once circumstances stabilize.”

In December 2025, the company provided a similarly opaque update on the status of the plant.

“The project remains paused at the moment, but we are in active discussions to restart the project as soon as possible,” a company representative said at the time. “We remain fully committed to delivering 1,600 jobs in the region and over $1.6 billion in direct investment.”

Fast forward to July of this year, when company officials regurgitated that statement – without elaboration – as local taxpayers sunk another $4.1 million into massive water and sewer upgrades at the 1.5 million-square foot facility.

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Local “economic developers” insisted the investment was necessary no matter what befalls the massive industrial site… language not-so-subtly implying the battery plant might not be happening.

AESC was hailed by governor Henry McMaster in 2023 for the “transformative impact” it was going to have on the region.

“South Carolina is proud to celebrate AESC as the company embarks on a historic chapter in our state,” McMaster said at the time. “Florence County has been ripe for an investment of this magnitude — one that will transform local communities and create generational wealth for South Carolinians. The groundbreaking for AESC’s battery cell gigafactory is a landmark moment in the evolution of South Carolina’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry.”

Was it, though? Or has AESC become the latest in a long line of command economic debacles…

McMaster and Palmetto politicians bet big on this company, with state taxpayers shelling out more than $255 million in initial subsidies in 2022 (not counting recurring job development tax credits). Local subsidies pushed the tab for the facility even higher – to more than $400 million. An additional $111 million was earmarked for a second AESC facility, but that project was later folded into the first plant.

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RELATED | McMASTER RESTORES CRONY CAPITALIST BAILOUT

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That’s half a billion dollars, people… with the tab still running.

AESC intended to supply batteries directly to German automaker BMW, which is building its new fully electric iX5 at its Spartanburg, S.C. facility across the state. As we recently reported, BMW is also struggling mightily amid recent prevailing economic headwinds – although the company insists production on the iX5 will begin later this year or in early 2027.

AESC is still providing BMW batteries for the vehicles, although it will send them to South Carolina via its global supply chain – not from the “paused” Pee Dee manufacturing facility.

Earlier this year, AESC was sued in state court by a construction contractor for more than $26 million – allegedly having “refused to compensate” the company for expenses related to the project and its “pause.”

“Much of the project was completed by the time of the suspension,” the lawsuit stated (.pdf).

Will this contractor ever be made whole? Will AESC ever open its Florence facility? Most importantly… will taxpayers ever get their money back?

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According to our sources, the answer to each one of those questions is a resounding “no.”

“AESC is dead,” a Florence-based source familiar with the situation confirmed to FITSNews. “They won’t comment publicly until mid-first quarter next year. Our ‘insiders’ are already doing the work for repurposing the property.”

A source at the S.C. Department of Commerce (SCDOC) confirmed this account – stating company and state officials were delaying the announcement because they didn’t want to harm McMaster’s legacy (or hurt president Donald Trump and other Republican politicians at the polls this fall).

Whenever the death knell sounds, the song remains the same… crony capitalism is failing South Carolina.

If the $515 million tab tied to this project had been doled out on a per capita basis, every single man, woman and child in Florence County could have received $3,718.30. Similarly, every single business in Florence County could have received a staggering $104,124.55.

That sort of cash influx could have dramatically moved the needle in this economically distressed region of South Carolina. Instead, local and state leaders essentially poured it in a pit and set it on fire…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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