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Dive brief:
- Scout Motors, an automotive company based in Tysons, Virginia and a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, recently started its $2 billion electric vehicle plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, after a roughly three-month hiatus, according to the company. The facility will produce about 200,000 all-electric trucks and SUVs each year.
- Concerns from environmental groups and state and federal agencies about wetland development prompted project teams to stop construction in the fall of 2023 while it was allowed to move forward, according to a statement shared with Construction Dive.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in January approved the project to proceed, contingent on Scout Motors’ commitment to wetland preservation efforts elsewhere in the state. The automotive company has not yet disclosed the general contractor for the project.
Diving knowledge:
While The manufacturing construction boom has shown signs of fadingmost contractors in the space have remained largely unfazed.
The recent withdrawal of electric vehicles by automakers has raised concerns about its potential impact on the momentum of manufacturing construction. However, builders keep faith in one expected increase in activity this year. In fact, manufacturing startups have already shown some rebound signs this year, it was up 26% in January, according to the Dodge Construction Network.
While some heavy projects in the industry, such as TSMC’s $40 billion venture in Arizona or Intel’s $20 billion chip factory in Ohio, suffered delays due to funding or labor issues, other billion dollar sites they are finally getting shovels on the ground. These include the $5.5 billion Texas Instruments manufacturing plant in Lehi, Utah, and the $1 billion BlueOval battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, in addition to the Scout Motors plant.
South Carolina Scout Motors website it covers approximately 1,600 acres, with the plant itself occupying about 1,100 acres, according to the release. The project is located less than 20 miles north of Columbia, South Carolina, and close to major cities and talent hubs such as Charleston, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Scout Motors expects production to begin at the factory in late 2026 and plans to start selling the trucks and SUVs soon after, the statement said.
