ATLANTA — Battery company SK Battery America Inc. laid off nearly 1,000 workers at a manufacturing plant northeast of Atlanta on Friday amid automakers' changing electrification plans and uncertain consumer demand for EVs.
The company said Friday marked the last working day for 958 plant employees, about 37% of its workforce, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice filed by human resources chief Chuck Moore. Impacted workers will be paid through May 6. The plant will continue to employ about 1,600 workers.
SK opened the $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia, in January 2022. The Korean company notably supplied the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Ford announced plans to cancel the fully electric version of the truck in December.
The news comes as the U.S. electric vehicle market is at a standstill amid the Trump administration steering federal support away from electrification in favor of more lax automotive emissions policies and a broader agenda supporting the oil and gas industries.
SK Americas spokesperson Joe Guy Collier said in a statement that the workforce reduction was made to align operations to market conditions.
“SK Battery America remains committed to Georgia and to building a robust U.S. supply chain for advanced battery manufacturing," Collier said. "We are pursuing a range of future customers, including the Battery Energy Storage System arena.”
The City of Commerce and the Jackson County commission chair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Georgia's EV footprint
Ford said in December that it would scrap the fully-electric version of its iconic pickup truck and opt for an extended-range version of the vehicle. A Ford spokesperson said it could not comment on supplier personnel actions.
SK and Ford had together previously invested $11.4 billion in joint battery plants in the U.S. The battery maker ended the joint venture in December.
SK is also a supplier to Volkswagen.
“Let’s be clear: these were battery manufacturing jobs and now they’re gone," Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, said in a statement. "As predicted, Trump’s war on electric vehicles is hurting Georgia’s economy. We were booming and building new plants. Now Georgians are losing their jobs.”
SK has invested significantly in Jackson County in Georgia in recent years as automakers shored up plans to spend billions to develop and build EVs and the federal government under former President Joe Biden supported efforts to build out a domestic EV supply chain.
It had also announced in June 2020 plans to pour $940 million to expand its battery manufacturing presence in Atlanta. At the time, Gov. Brian Kemp's office said the expansion would create 600 jobs.
SK and Hyundai are still jointly building a $5 billion battery factory near Cartersville, northwest of Atlanta.
The state has also attracted other massive EV manufacturing investments; Rivian's $5 billion factory and Hyundai's own $7.6 billion factory complex among them.
Few states benefited more than Georgia from Biden's signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which accelerated a rush of green energy projects. The 33 additional projects announced by the end of 2024 were the most nationwide, according to E2, an environmental business group. Exact figures differ, but projects in Georgia topped $20 billion, pledging more than 25,000 jobs. Some of those companies are still pushing on. Qcells, a unit of South Korea's Hanwha Solutions, said Friday that it had resumed normal production. The company had temporarily reduced hours and pay for some workers last year because U.S. customs officials had been detaining imported components needed to make solar panels.
A spokesperson for Kemp's office said it is grateful for the presence of workers remaining at SK's factory.
“Thankfully, Georgia’s job market remains robust, with over 219,700 new jobs being announced since 2019, affording Georgians the opportunity for gainful employment, no matter their zip code,” the statement said.
Shifting EV dynamics
EV demand, while still growing, has not met automakers' ambitious expectations in recent years. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2025, much the same as a year earlier.
Automakers have been reevaluating their multibillion-dollar electrification plans as financial losses mount and demand shifts.
Manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and others — along with others across the EV supply chain — have reneged on factory, investment and product plans, laid off workers and, instead, pivoted some of those efforts to hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Hybrids and more efficient gasoline-powered vehicles are seemingly more palatable for mainstream buyers concerned about EV driving range and charging infrastructure availability.
Under President Donald Trump, meanwhile, Congress has eliminated tax credits of up to $7,500 for consumers' purchases of new or used EVs.
The administration has also announced plans to weaken fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions rules for automakers, essentially eliminating any federal incentive for auto companies to make their vehicle fleets cleaner.
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St. John reported from Detroit.
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