A Bowling Green, Kentucky battery plant jobs promise, still behind schedule
AESC broke ground in August 2022 on a 2,000,000,000 dollar battery plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, backed by up to 116,800,000 dollars in Kentucky state incentives and 5,000,000 dollars toward a continuing education program for workers, in exchange for a promise of 2,000 jobs. The incentive alone equals about 6% of what AESC pledged to invest, a ratio this article calculates by dividing the 2 sourced figures, since neither AESC nor Kentucky states that comparison. AESC said the plant would start some functions in 2025 and reach full operation by 2027. As of the most recent reporting read for this article, June 2025, the 2025 milestone had already passed with no new date announced. Bowling Green mayor Todd Alcott summed up the missed milestone to a local reporter.
A grand opening, a ribbon cutting, we were supposed to be there at this point. We are not there.
Todd Alcott, mayor of Bowling Green. Source 1.
AESC spokesman Brad Grantham restated the commitment AESC made to the same 2,000 jobs and 2,000,000,000 dollars without naming a new date.
Though policy and market uncertainty are impacting the industry, AESC remains fully committed to delivering 2,000 jobs and investing 2,000,000,000 dollars in the Bowling Green facility.
Brad Grantham, AESC company spokesman. Source 2.
The incentive Kentucky committed equals about 6% of what AESC pledged to invest, a ratio this article calculates by dividing the 2 sourced figures, not a percentage AESC or Kentucky states directly.
Show the numbers
| AESC investment commitment | 2,000,000,000 |
| Kentucky state incentives | 116,800,000 |
| Kentucky worker training funding | 5,000,000 |
A sister plant in South Carolina stopped entirely
AESC is not only behind schedule in Kentucky. The company halted construction outright in 2025 on a 1,600,000,000 dollar sister plant in Florence, South Carolina, meant to create 1,600 jobs and supply BMW starting in 2026, after already spending 1,000,000,000 dollars there. AESC cited policy and market uncertainty, specifically concern that federal electric vehicle purchase incentives and manufacturer tax credits could be discontinued, and gave no new timeline beyond saying it would resume when market conditions improve. In Kentucky, Alcott said AESC is shifting some planned output toward energy storage systems, batteries that store electricity for the power grid rather than for driving, in addition to electric vehicle batteries.
The Kentucky and South Carolina committed figures come from source 2. The South Carolina already spent figure comes from source 4. South Carolina stopped construction entirely in 2025. Kentucky is still building behind its original schedule.
Show the numbers
| Kentucky committed | 2,000,000,000 |
| South Carolina committed | 1,600,000,000 |
| South Carolina already spent | 1,000,000,000 |
Only 1 of 3 United States AESC plants is confirmed shipping
AESC names 3 United States battery plants in total, Kentucky still under construction, South Carolina paused, and an original Tennessee plant operating since 2012. In 2026 AESC sold that Tennessee plant, retooled in 2025 to make stationary storage cells, to Fixx Energy, which took a controlling stake and signed a multiyear deal to supply cells to Fluence. Counting across all 3 sites, only the Tennessee plant, now under new ownership, is confirmed to be shipping any product at all, a tally this article draws across 2 separate reports rather than a total any single AESC statement gives. Kentucky remains the only one of the 3 that both AESC and the mayor of Bowling Green still describe as moving forward, just not yet on the schedule it was promised.