As demand for commercial electric vehicles continues to grow, Proterra Inc announced plans to open a new EV battery system manufacturing plant in South Carolina to produce battery systems for Proterra Powered customers’ commercial electric vehicles. The factory is planned to begin production in second half of 2022 with multiple gigawatt hours of annual battery system production capacity.
Proterra says it has committed to a minimum investment of at least $76 million, with additional investments planned over the next several years, and expects to create more than 200 new jobs over the next several years at the 327,000 square foot battery system production plant. By 2025, the factory is expected to support additional battery system production capacity, as well as the production of ancillary systems incorporated into electric medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles and equipment. The new facility will be located at the 42.76-acre Carolina Commerce Center in Greer, South Carolina near Proterra’s electric bus
manufacturing facility in Greenville, South Carolina. With this new factory on the East Coast of the United States, Proterra brings battery production closer to its Proterra Powered customers and its own Proterra Transit electric bus manufacturing operations. It represents the company’s third battery production facility nationwide. In December 2020, the company opened its second battery production site co-located in its EV bus manufacturing facility in Los Angeles County.