Anisa Khalifa: I have two letters for you. They’ve become a part of our shared vocabulary recently. Ready? E. V.
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Unidentified Anchor: The auto industry is undergoing a major shift towards electric vehicles,
Unidentified Anchor: The White House is supercharging plans to electrify American roads.
Unidentified Anchor: Thousands of these custom-built Rivian vans are already driving in and out of neighborhoods, delivering packages in 100 cities nationwide.
Anisa Khalifa: For a growing number of folks in the South, EV isn’t just a matter of what’s powering the cars sitting in their driveways. It’s also what’s powering the economies where they live. That’s because in states like Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, communities are getting ready to house huge EV manufacturing plants.
I’m Anisa Khalifa. This week on the Broadside, we’ll talk about one town in particular that’s gearing up for a big EV bump, and what it needs to be successful. Nora Eckert lives in Detroit, Michigan. That’s not all too surprising considering…
Nora Eckert: I'm an automotive reporter for The Wall Street Journal.
Anisa Khalifa: For decades, Motor City has been the capital of, well… building motors. But recently, automakers have been investing elsewhere in a burgeoning electric vehicle industry. They’ve been looking to the South.
Nora Eckert: When you're thinking about examples of where this EV building boom is changing the fabric of Southern communities, there really are a lot of examples.
Anisa Khalifa: One of those communities is in rural Tennessee. Back in 2021, Ford announced a massive EV manufacturing plant for Stanton, Tennessee. It’s a rural town about 50 miles northeast of Memphis.
NE: So this was an interesting case study in a huge EV investment that landed in Stanton, Tennessee, rather than Michigan, which, at the time, the investment was announced, I think really rocked a lot of people around where I live in Detroit, which, you know, is an area that historically has gotten a lot of these investments. So interesting sort of development for Ford's future and where it's focusing on EV production.
Anisa Khalifa: The site is currently under construction — but when it’s completed, it’ll transform the region. The 3600 acre facility is expected to create 6000 new jobs — that’s about 15 times Stanton’s population right now. Nora traveled to Stanton a few months ago to see how its residents are preparing for this massive growth.
Nora Eckert: I was very interested in it because it was one of Ford's largest investments in its history. And I really cover Ford in my reporting. And on top of that, Stan is a really small town. When I visited, it was about 400 people. So compare that to — and the population, I'm sure is changing as these developments are happening. But compare that 400 person population to the about 6000 auto workers that are expected to you know, fill the plants in this town. It's just a huge shift.
And talking to the mayor there, it's kind of interesting, because he was saying, you know, when I got this position five years ago, I was thinking about how do I bring back the local farmers market? How do I fill in these pesky potholes that are annoying residents? And now I have to think about how am I going to erect thousands of housing units to you know, fill this town and to accommodate workers? How are we going to build up our schooling, our local police department perhaps. So it really was this dramatic shift that you see in such a small town that you wouldn't see if you have a plant like this pop up in Detroit to the same extent.
Stanton had a lot of available land, the site was ready to go and could be quickly developed. And Ford was moving on a very fast timeline. Also, the Ford chief executive Jim Farley, has said that the Tennessee Valley Authority was such a great provider of clean energy. And that was a you know, a huge thing when they're thinking about these massive, EV and battery plants.
Jim Farley: You can trust it because it will be built here in this community. Because I know you're gonna take pride in every single one you build, and send out around the globe.
Nora Eckert: And they've also cited the local workforce was ready to go and they could recruit folks from around the Memphis area, you know, there's a larger city nearby. And there's also folks in the surrounding areas around Stanton, who were really eager to get this type of work.
Anisa Khalifa: You've mentioned this huge shift. So far, what's been that impact? You spoke with some residents in town like Lisa Tarde, who owns a local diner. How has she felt the effects of this plant development?
Nora Eckert: I think Lisa has become sort of a local celebrity because she owns the one restaurant — and there might be more now but at the time I was there, it was the one restaurant in Stanton. It's very successful. It's called Suga's Diner. And I walked in on the lunch shift. And there were actually workers, you know, on their break having barbecue plates. But she said that her business has tripled really since Ford brought its Blue Oval City campus to town. And really, that is because of the construction workers coming in and out. And I'm sure that will continue, as Ford hires on more full time workers to make the factory hum.
And I think for someone like Lisa, who goes by Suga, she was saying that this is really a welcome investment. You know, she's seen this town sort of dwindle throughout the years. And this was a revitalization for it. So she was very happy to see the change. Of course, for her and for other residents there is, you know, a sense of trepidation, because this is very much changing the community, there's going to be more traffic, there's just a lot of folks coming in that aren't from the area. So there's the sense that like, you know, this quaint, small town that they've grown to love may change. But I think a lot of folks are embracing that change.
Anisa Khalifa: As you have this massive influx of people moving to the area, and you mentioned some of this with the schools and the police force. You spoke to the mayor, what did he say about what needs to change in Stanton to support this huge shift in population?
Nora Eckert: Yeah, the mayor's name is Alan Stravinsky, he's a really interesting guy. He's lived in this community for a while. And I don't think he ever anticipated that he would be so busy in his role. But he's, he's really taken it on. He's one of the more energetic people I've met. But yeah, there's this sense that the community is sort of bursting at its seams probably to accommodate the people who are coming in. And it's obviously, it's not going to be just in Stanton. You know, there are the surrounding communities that will welcome these new residents.
But there's a few main challenges for someone like Allen. One is building up housing, so he needs to get thousands of housing units built in Stan to accommodate workers and their families. And then those folks are going to have children that need to attend schools. And right now there's really one centralized school in the area in Brownsville, which is in a neighboring community. And Mayor Stravinsky is saying, we need a school in Stanton, because we're going to have too many children to you know, bus them all to Brownsville. So that's a herculean effort there. And on top of it, they need to look into things like their firefighter system, and Stanton, they need to have more robust help there, in addition to the police force, which is currently run by the county, and Mayor Stravinsky is sort of in the middle of deciding should we just beef up those county resources or have a Stanton police department? So all these questions of like really changing a town that I don't think he or anyone in that town expected would happen.
There's not 6000 people living around this area. I mean, that's clear, Stanton has 400 people. And in fact, talking to some Ford executives, the challenge has really been just getting the word out to people in the state, even in surrounding states that this opportunity exists. You know, they're expecting folks to commute in for this plant, there might be longer commutes, especially if you're driving in from Memphis, that's about an hour. But they really do, they're banking, that this is going to be an attractive enough opportunity that folks will either have those long commutes, or they'll be moving to the area.
Anisa Khalifa: Coming up, how exactly did Stanton and other southern towns become hotspots for this EV wave? We’ll chat with Nora about it after this short break.
We’re back with The Broadside. I’m talking with Nora Eckert, automotive reporter with the Wall Street Journal, about why the electric vehicle industry is, well… putting the pedal to the metal in the South. So Nora, what makes the south more appealing for manufacturers compared to the Midwest, where you are, which is historically known for its auto plants?
Nora Eckert: Yeah, so you know with this EV investment boom, there's a lot more money on the table in the auto industry than there's been in decades. And states are really fighting over this in a new way. And the South has won out on a lot of this investment for several reasons. For one, the South has a lot of available land and these EV sites, these battery sites are massive. And the southern sites are often sort of built to be turnkey, meaning that automakers can get in and quickly start, you know, building up the facility and producing vehicles. And really that is paramount because these automakers are racing against each other to get to market quickly.
Also, the South has invested for decades in training its workforce, and that is also very attractive to automakers right now. I mean, these workers require different skills than they might have in the past to build EVs, and especially on the battery side. So having that trained, ready-to-go workforce is super attractive. There's also a few things around utilities. I mean, in some cases, the South has lower energy costs. that's much higher on the list when you're thinking about building an EV than a gas engine vehicle. And of course, you've got government incentives that always play a role. But those have been really the main factors I've heard from site selectors and auto companies is that you've got the land, it's easy to develop and quickly get in production. And you've got workers that can fill these sites very quickly.
Anisa Khalifa: So, zooming out for a minute from Stanton, that's not the only place in the South seeing this kind of growth. As you mentioned, you've also highlighted a wave of EV manufacturing in Georgia. How rapidly are these factories coming to the South? And where are they concentrated?
Nora Eckert: Yeah, so among the states that are really getting a lot of this investment, Georgia is one of the top ones and one of the largest plants is a Hyundai plant in Georgia. That was a $5.5 billion manufacturing site that's expected to add at least 8000 jobs. And I talked with the person, his name is Ralph Forbes, who helped to select this site. And it's interesting to see people who are in this industry have really been waiting for this moment for over a decade, you know, waiting for the money to be there on the auto side and patiently courting potential candidates until the right one comes along. And these EV plants are really starting to be the opportune clients for them and the opportune partners.
But it's important to say too, that it's not as if none of the investment is going to the Michigan Great Lakes region. Michigan is still a powerhouse in the automotive industry. We still have a ton of R&D here. Headquarters are based here. So it's not as if Okay, bye Michigan, we're moving down South. But what we're seeing really with this expansion of the auto industry is that the money is being more broadly dispersed across different states. And it's not a given that it will land in Michigan.
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Unidentified Anchor: We have breaking news to tell you about. Ford Motors and striking auto workers have reached a labor deal.
Unidentified Anchor: The United Auto Workers Union and Ford Motor Company struck the deal to end the walkout that started last month.
Unidentified Anchor: The power of the stand up strike cannot be understated.
Anisa Khalifa: The South has been historically less friendly to unions than other places, and especially, you know, auto manufacturing hubs like Detroit, where unions are very strong. Will these workers be unionized? Especially considering the recent work of the United Auto Workers Union?
Nora Eckert: Yeah, it's one of the biggest questions that everyone in the industry has. And we have a few answers related to this complex in Stanton. So, in this Stanton complex, there's a battery facility and an electric vehicle assembly plant. And the battery facility is a part of a joint venture that Ford has with a Korean battery maker called SK On. And that is where things get a little more legally difficult when we're discussing unionization, because it is a joint venture agreement. Things are a little easier when we look at this EV assembly plant, which under the agreement that Ford struck with the UAW in the fall of last year. They did actually bring that Tennessee electric vehicle assembly plant under the Master Agreement, which means that those workers will be able to vote on unionization.
It is up to the workers ultimately, that's what the companies have said. But it does get tricky for Ford and you know, for GM, also, in some of these joint venture facilities have this question of unionization. I will say that a lot of people when I was working on this story asked me, Are companies being drawn to the South because of this whole question of unionization and being a less union friendly area. I think, in the past that was higher on the list of maybe attractive qualities for the companies. Now, it really is about more of this available land speed to market workforce. In fact, unions came up very little in my conversations with folks about why the southern migration is happening. So I thought that shift was very interesting.
Anisa Khalifa: With all these manufacturing stories, we always have at least I always have the environmental impact in the back of my mind. And we've seen the environmental impact of manufacturing in other places, for example, the Flint water crisis to go back to Michigan, was linked to water contaminated by industry, in part by car companies. So are locals concerned about how this new plant will affect their environment?
Nora Eckert: It's interesting because I've definitely heard that concern in talking to people around other plants. I've actually heard folks who are around a Rivian automotive plant, which is an EV startup in Georgia, saying, We're really worried about if this facility could contaminate — these are a lot of farmers — so you know, drinking water land, of course, Rivian said that it won't. And they're very committed to communicating that to the locals. I didn't hear much of that concern around Stanton. And it's notable because there are a lot of farmers around this area.
I do think that Ford has been very conscious from the start about addressing this. And especially when it comes to the local water supply, they've been very on top of communicating with folks what they're doing, how they're doing it, how they're protecting the local community, because I think, you know, a company as massive as Ford is aware of the perception of them dropping into this 400-person town and sort of transforming it in a way that only fits their needs. You know, they're very vocal about not doing that. So that's been interesting to observe, especially on the environmental side.
Anisa Khalifa: So as things continue to develop, what are you going to be watching for most closely in Stanton?
Nora Eckert: Well, with this whole subject, I think the biggest question is, will the demand be there for these EVs? So, you've got billions of dollars going into these sites, you're transforming communities, you're recruiting workers. But what if the product you're making in these plants isn't, you know, desired by customers? That's a huge What if. So, that's really the collective bet that the industry has made, is that this will pay off. They're going to make these companies competitive in the future.
But in the next few years, I think the other big question, just looking at these local communities is, well, the companies be able to recruit the workers they need to make these factories hum. But also, you know, how are these towns going to adjust? Because when I talk to the locals who live in Stanton, at this point, it's sort of a hypothetical because the town hasn't quite been stretched to the point where it will be yet. So the folks who are optimistic I'm interested to see if they're still optimistic once you know, a lot of their life changes in the next two, three years.
Anisa Khalifa: If you want to check more of Nora’s great reporting from Stanton, Tennessee, click the link in the show notes.
This episode was produced by Charlie Shelton-Ormond. Our editor is Jerad Walker. Thanks to Sean Roux for audio engineering support. The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. You can email us at broadside@wunc.org. If you enjoyed the show, leave us a rating, a review, or tell a friend to tell a friend! I'm Anisa Khalifa. Thanks for listening y'all. We'll be back next week.