$4B North Carolina EV Facility Breaks Ground

VinFast groundbreaking ceremony in North Carolina. Image courtesy of VinFast

VinFast has broken ground on its electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Chatham County, N.C. The $4 billion project represents the largest economic development initiative in North Carolina’s history.

Taking shape in phases on an approximately 1,800-acre site, the development marks the first EV manufacturing plant in the state and VinFast’s first facility in the U.S.

Clayco is the plant’s general contractor and construction management company. The facility is anticipated to begin vehicle production in 2025.

VinFast’s mega-project, up close

VinFast announced their intention to build a manufacturing facility in the U.S. last March; back then, groundbreaking was expected in the second half of 2022. Last July, the Vietnam-based firm also received a $1.2 billion incentive package from the State of North Carolina for the project that was expected to generate more than 7,500 jobs over the course of 5 years.

VinFast’s site plans include eight structures totaling 2.85 million square feet, according to The News & Observer. At full build-out, the manufacturing campus will comprise a body shop, general assembly facility, press shop, paint shop and energy center, as well as other functional facilities. The press shop will be more than 75 feet tall and the general assembly space will encompass nearly 1 million square feet.

The factory’s Phase I, involving a total investment of nearly $2 billion, will build VinFast’s VF 7, VF 8 and VF 9 electric vehicles at a rate of approximately 150,000 vehicles annually. Phase II will focus on battery production.

The development site is near Moncure, N.C., roughly 30 miles southwest of Raleigh, N.C., on the eastern side of Triangle Innovation Point. The center of the Research Triangle Park is also 30 miles away.

EV production plants on the rise

Other EV automakers, such as Tesla, Ford and several German companies, have been heavily investing in manufacturing facilities in the U.S. to take advantage of the incentives passed by the Biden administration for climate-friendly technology. The overall EV industry is anticipated to continue to grow across the nation.

As of February, the largest under-construction EV pipelines were in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte, N.C. In South Carolina and Alabama, billion-dollar production plants are planned by BMW and Mercedes.