More details were revealed Wednesday about Volvo’s fully electric SUV that will be built in Ridgeville – and the massive effort it will take to roll them off the assembly line.

The Volvo EX90 made its debut in November as the Swedish car company’s new fully electric vehicle.

David Stenström, Volvo Cars USA VP manufacturing Americas, said at the 12^th annual South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance Automotive Summit on Wednesday that it will feature recycled plastics for the interior, which will be all animal/leather-free, among many other top-of-the-line and sustainable features.

He said it’s been a big challenge, but they are confident in overcoming those challenges.

The biggest of those challenges being:

Fifty percent more machines will need to be installed ahead of building the EX90s at Volvo’s Ridgeville plant — in addition to 1,300 new team members to be hired for its launch. The new employees will need to undergo eight weeks of training.

It takes seven years to design, build and then launch a new vehicle, said Stenström.

“The competition will be brutal for Volvo,” said Stenström. “If you’re not out there being the first, you probably will not survive (in this industry). But there is nothing hindering us from expanding what we have today and with the right people there is nothing we can’t do.”

Volvo CEO Jim Rowan said the EX90 ushers in a new era for safety for Volvo drivers and passengers.

“Born electric, born with lidar. The start of a new era of electrification, technology and safety,” Rowan said in a video presentation at the end of September. All Volvo EX90s will come with a combination of the latest technology powered by an understanding of the car’s outside environment and the person driving the vehicle, the company said.

Greenville and Spartanburg County Councils approved Volvo Cars USA’s fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreements in October. The FILOT applies to specific sites occupied by parts makers in the Upstate to prepare the company’s Ridgeville plant for building the electric SUVs.

Stenström said by 2025, they plan for a zero-carbon neutral site, in addition to these other mid-decade business ambitions:

Long-term Volvo ambitions include climate neutral company by 2040, pure electric car company by 2030, circular business by 2040, and recognized leader in responsible business. Currently, 90% of the EX90’s build is localized.

“South Carolina is blessed to have Volvo Cars here, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds as Volvo continues to innovate and grow here,” said Sara Hazzard, president and CEO of the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Redwood Materials, a producer of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, along with Governor Henry McMaster, today announced plans to establish operations in Berkeley County. The company’s $3.5 billion investment, which marks the largest economic development announcement in the history of South Carolina, will create 1,500 new jobs.

“Redwood Materials’ record-breaking announcement shows that our state’s strategic plan to remain a top destination for automobile manufacturers and their suppliers as the industry innovates is working,” said Gov. Henry McMaster. “This $3.5 billion investment, and the 1,500 jobs it will create in Berkeley County, is a transformative accomplishment that can only be attributed to the strong, talented, hardworking South Carolinians who make our state as great as it is.”

Headquartered in Carson City, Nevada, and founded by Tesla’s former Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder JB Straubel, Redwood Materials will use its South Carolina campus to create a circular supply chain for electric vehicles. To do so, the company will onshore production of the most critical components in batteries – the anode and cathode – to drive down costs and emissions while securing the supply chain within the United States. All battery components will be built from as much recycled material as possible. The more than 600-acre campus, located at Camp Hall Commerce Park in Ridgeville, will initially produce enough anode and cathode material for 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery cell production or 1 million electric vehicles each year.

“South Carolina’s commitment to creating a secure energy future and a competitive landscape for electric vehicle manufacturing, supported by a world-class workforce, fast and efficient logistics, zero-carbon electricity and a phenomenal site made it a smart decision for Redwood to invest here. Redwood’s South Carolina Battery Materials Campus will recycle, refine and remanufacture anode and cathode components allowing us to support our current and future customers in the heart of America's battery belt. We're ready to support this region and U.S. electrification by driving down battery costs, emissions, and reducing reliance on foreign supply chains,” said Redwood Materials Founder and Chief Executive Officer JB Straubel.

Currently, nearly 100% of the components required for electric vehicle batteries are manufactured overseas. Redwood Materials works to recover more than 95% of the critical minerals and rare earth elements from batteries, like nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper, and then reintroduce those materials into the supply chain through the anode and cathode materials it produces for U.S. battery manufacturers.

Redwood Materials works with multiple partners that have existing operations across the U.S., such as Volvo, Envision AESC, Proterra, Panasonic, Volkswagen and Audi, for reclaiming and recycling end-of-life batteries and production scrap to produce battery components.

Operations will begin in 2023.

Individuals interested in working for Redwood Materials may apply by visiting the company’s website.

After the Joint Bond Review Committee recommended approval, the State Fiscal Accountability Authority authorized the issuance of General Obligation State Economic Development Bonds not exceeding $226 million, and notes in anticipation thereof, to offset the cost of acquiring the site, site improvements, related infrastructure and bond issuance costs.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development also awarded job development credits related to this project.

QUOTES

“The future of the automotive industry is paving a path through South Carolina, and Redwood Materials establishing operations in our state proves that point. The company’s historic announcement and the 1,500 new jobs it will create mean we are strengthening sustained, long-term economic growth that will benefit South Carolinians for years to come. We applaud Redwood Materials for their commitment to creating a circular economy here and working to shorten the supply chain through recycling efforts.” - Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“South Carolina Ports is excited to welcome Redwood Materials to South Carolina. SC Ports is a critical supply chain partner for many of South Carolina’s advanced manufacturers, efficiently importing goods for production and exporting finished products to global markets. SC Ports looks forward to supporting Redwood Materials’ new investment that will strengthen our state’s position as a leader in automotive, electrification and sustainability.” - SC Ports President and CEO Barbara Melvin

“Redwood Materials represents a tremendous opportunity for South Carolina to increase our sustainable manufacturing footprint and supply chain security. Redwood Materials fits perfectly with Santee Cooper’s vision in developing Camp Hall, and we are proud to welcome JB Straubel and his team to Berkeley County, South Carolina.” - Santee Cooper Director Stephen H. Mudge

“This historic investment in Berkeley County will offer unique career opportunities for our citizens and region. Redwood Materials’ investment will also allow for significant investments in road infrastructure, schools, and public safety, improving the overall quality of life for our residents.” - Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb

“This record-setting economic development win will have a significant positive return on investment for our community. Congratulations to Redwood Materials, our partners in Berkeley County, and to everyone involved in this impactful economic development deal that will bring not only high-paying jobs to our residents, but innovation opportunities to our region.” - Charleston Regional Development Alliance Board Chairman and President and CEO of Berkeley Electric Cooperative Mike Fuller

FIVE FAST FACTS

Santee Cooper

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power provider, the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state, and one of America’s Best Midsize Employers as named by Forbes. Through its low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity and water services, and through innovative partnerships and initiatives that attract and retain industry and jobs, Santee Cooper helps power South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.santeecooper.com and follow #PoweringSC on social media.

Redwood Materials, a producer of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, plans to establish its Battery Materials Campus at Camp Hall Commerce Park in Ridgeville, South Carolina. The $3.5 billion project is expected to create 1,500 jobs in Berkeley County.

The more than 600-acre campus will initially produce enough anode and cathode material for 100 gigawatt-hours of battery cell production or 1 million electric vehicles each year, according to state officials. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2023.

“South Carolina’s commitment to creating a secure energy future and a competitive landscape for electric vehicle manufacturing, supported by a world-class workforce, fast and efficient logistics, zero-carbon electricity and a phenomenal site made it a smart decision for Redwood to invest here. Redwood’s South Carolina Battery Materials Campus will recycle, refine and remanufacture anode and cathode components allowing us to support our current and future customers in the heart of America's battery belt. We're ready to support this region and U.S. electrification by driving down battery costs, emissions, and reducing reliance on foreign supply chains,” said Redwood Materials Founder and CEO JB Straubel.

After the Joint Bond Review Committee recommended approval, the State Fiscal Accountability Authority authorized the issuance of General Obligation State Economic Development Bonds not exceeding $226 million, and notes in anticipation thereof, to offset the cost of acquiring the site, site improvements, related infrastructure and bond issuance costs.

"The future of the automotive industry is paving a path through South Carolina, and Redwood Materials establishing operations in our state proves that point. The company’s historic announcement and the 1,500 new jobs it will create mean we are strengthening sustained, long-term economic growth that will benefit South Carolinians for years to come. We applaud Redwood Materials for their commitment to creating a circular economy here and working to shorten the supply chain through recycling efforts,” noted Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development also awarded job development credits related to this project.

“South Carolina Ports is excited to welcome Redwood Materials to South Carolina. SC Ports is a critical supply chain partner for many of South Carolina’s advanced manufacturers, efficiently importing goods for production and exporting finished products to global markets. SC Ports looks forward to supporting Redwood Materials’ new investment that will strengthen our state’s position as a leader in automotive, electrification and sustainability,” added SC Ports President and CEO Barbara Melvin.

Redwood Materials works to recover more than 95% of the critical minerals and rare earth elements from batteries, like nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper, and then reintroduce those materials into the supply chain through the anode and cathode materials it produces for U.S. battery manufacturers. The company works with multiple partners that have existing operations across the U.S., such as Volvo, Envision AESC, Proterra, Panasonic, Volkswagen and Audi, for reclaiming and recycling end-of-life batteries and production scrap to produce battery components.

“This record-setting economic development win will have a significant positive return on investment for our community. Congratulations to Redwood Materials, our partners in Berkeley County, and to everyone involved in this impactful economic development deal that will bring not only high-paying jobs to our residents, but innovation opportunities to our region,” Charleston Regional Development Alliance Board Chairman and President and CEO of Berkeley Electric Cooperative Mike Fuller said.

“Redwood Materials represents a tremendous opportunity for South Carolina to increase our sustainable manufacturing footprint and supply chain security. Redwood Materials fits perfectly with Santee Cooper’s vision in developing Camp Hall, and we are proud to welcome JB Straubel and his team to Berkeley County, South Carolina,” Santee Cooper Director Stephen H. Mudge added.

By Christmas, Redwood Materials, a producer and recycler of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, expects to be operating out of its 600-acre site at Camp Hall Commerce Park in Ridgeville.

“We are very much ‘building the plane as we fly it,’ which means building smaller buildings, getting production up and going while we're building other multimillion square foot (sized) facilities so we can scale and grow into those,” said Alexis Georgeson, vice president of communications and government relations for Redwood Materials at a Feb. 15 breakfast hosted by the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce.

In late 2022, Nevada-based Redwood Materials — founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel —announced its $3.5 billion investment to establish operations in Berkeley County, marking the largest economic development announcement in the history of South Carolina. The company expects to create 1,500 new jobs over the next 10 years.

“Research and development a big part of our focus and there will be a lot of that happening at the Berkeley campus. We hope to be working very closely with ReadySC on a lot of worker training,” Georgeson told a packed house at the South Carolina Aeronautical Training Center at Trident Technical College.

Redwood Materials, created in 2017, is the first company in the world that recycles used electric vehicle batteries and other types of batteries to extract crucial components that can then be sent to car manufacturers to be put into new electric vehicle batteries. Currently, those components exclusively come from Asia.

“Our business model is a little bit different than some other battery recyclers (in that) they're not going further downstream and doing the refining. Unless you're going further into the refining process, you're actually having to export the material and relying on another country to refine it for you,” Georgeson said. “We feel the pressure every single day to get up and going as quickly as possible and be able to feed (automakers) these components domestically. They don't have any plans other than to send $150 billion overseas to Asia right now to source these components.”

Redwood Materials works with auto dismantlers to source used and end-of-life electric vehicle batteries, either when a car reaches the end of its life or was crashed and no longer drivable, Georgeson said.

“Until now, (dismantlers) haven't had a downstream plan for these batteries. They've pretty much been just storing them and waiting for someone like Redwood to come along and take these batteries off their hands,” Georgeson said. “We go into the field, we send our own fleet of trucks and collect these thousand-pound batteries safely, package them and transport them.”

One of Redwood Materials’ largest customers is Panasonic, which manufactures Tesla electric vehicles at Tesla’s gigafactory. Panasonic will be sourcing both anode and cathode battery components from Redwood.

“The beauty of these (components) is that they can be infinitely recycled,” Georgeson said. “At a certain point where our population starts (swapping) an internal combustion engine for an electric vehicle — and if you believe that at some point, we will all be driving electric vehicles — we can hit a plateau where we’re recycling one vehicle to create a new vehicle and we’re no longer having to mine these materials (from the Earth). That's really a future that we firmly believe is not too far off.”

Georgeson said Redwood Materials is continuously looking to streamline operations and open up new recycling avenues and opportunities—including a direct consumer recycling program for household electronics.

“We send graphite recovered in our mining process downstream for industrial lubrication. We’ve got gypsum as part of our downstream product and we send that to drywall manufacturers,” Georgeson said. “Everything that's recovered in the process is reused or sent to another partner that needs it in their process. In terms of rail and trucking, we anticipate using rail very heavily on the (Camp Hall) site.”

Since recycling is the hallmark of the company, the Berkeley County facility will use renewable energy to power its operations and water used in its hydro operations will be continuously recycled.

“Our facility in Nevada, as well as the one in Berkeley County, will use one hundred percent renewable energy and have no wastewater,” Georgeson said. “Our Nevada facility took twelve months from breaking ground to products coming out of the facility. We move fast. The ability to get going on the Camp Hall site very quickly was a critical factor for us, as well as being located in a great central downtown where we knew we'd be able to recruit and retain talent.”

RIDGEVILLE — The relocation of the Dorchester Heritage Center is slowly beginning, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the REV Pavilion.

The Leadership Dorchester class, hosted by the Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce, helped by raising $60,000 to build the first structure of the new center: the REV Pavilion, which opened to the public Oct. 22. It was named for the REV Federal Credit Union, one of the sponsors for the project.

The leadership class requires each year’s participants to do a project that leaves a lasting impact on the county, said class member Rebecca Collett of Collett Media.

Collett said the class of 24 unanimously decided to help with the relocation and construction of the pavilion.

Justin Lee, a member of the class and executive director of operations at Gilbert & Lee Construction, said part of the reason the class chose the project was to feature nonprofits.

“We wanted to bridge the gap between western Dorchester County and the Greater Summerville area,” Lee said.

The leadership class had $7,000 left over from what it raised for the pavilion. It gave to the Heritage Center, which will honor the people in Dorchester County and help with historic grave preservation, Collett said.

“The center being located somewhat in the center of the county, I think it will gain lots of foot traffic since it’s in a very convenient place for everyone,” Lee said.

Lee anticipates breaking ground around March, and hopes to finish construction in the summer of 2024.

The Dorchester Heritage Center is a nonprofit that opened in 2014. Currently in the Dorchester County Courthouse in St. George, the center started small with just an archives genealogical library but grew to open a 4,000-square-foot museum in 2017.

Within 5½ weeks of the museum opening, over 3,000 people had visited. The center’s goal is to preserve the county’s history, said Phyllis Hughes, chairman of the Dorchester Heritage Center.

Over time, people began bringing in artifacts and all sorts of pictures, papers and rare books. After obtaining over 500,000 historical items, Hughes said they’ve outgrown the space, which led to a search for a new location.

They found and purchased an 81-acre site in Ridgeville, which is more convenient to the county as a whole and includes lots of space for new additions.

The new site will include a 20,000-square-foot center with indoor and outdoor event space, state-of-the-art archives, multipurpose conference rooms, a genealogy library, a museum and a green room, which will be used as a recording studio so “anyone can come in, sit down and tell their story.”

Outside of the heritage center, Hughes said there are other plans for the property. There will be walking trails, owl posts and birdhouses. The Boy Scouts will be involved with the wildlife aspect, with the opportunity to possibly monitor birdhouses on a monthly basis and earn merit badges, Hughes said.

“We want to become kind of a gateway to the county where people can come in and we can direct them to all the historic sites in our county,” Hughes said.

While waiting for the new facility to be built, the Dorchester Heritage Center will host classes throughout the county. On Nov. 17 at the community center in Ridgeville, it will kick off a new lecture series about the first Carolinians and will include the chiefs of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso and Wassamasaw Native American tribes as guest speakers.