When I traveled to Ellabell, Ga., in May to report on Hyundai Motor Group’s hyperefficient Metaplant—a US $12.6 billion boost to U.S.-based manufacturing of EVs and batteries—the company’s timing appeared solid. At this temple of leading-edge factory tech, Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9 SUVs marched along surgically spotless assembly lines, giving the South Korean automaker a defensible bulwark against the Trump administration’s tariffs and onshoring fervor.
But dark clouds were already gathering. Consumer adoption of EVs had started slowing. The U.S. federal government’s $7,500 clean-car tax credit, which had helped hundreds of thousands of people make the leap to EVs, was being phased out.
Held securely on a yellow jig, a three-row Ioniq 9 SUV glides from station to station in the assembly hall. A view from below shows its generous, 110.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which, as in most EVs, sits below the floor of the car. The pack, which is shielded to prevent or limit damage in a collision, is part of an advanced 800-volt architecture for ultrafast DC charging. Christopher Payne/Esto
Near the Savannah-area factory, I drove a smartly designed Ioniq 9, a three-row SUV tailored to the United States’ plus-size tastes. I also saw a battery plant taking shape: a $4.3 billion joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, on track to produce lithium-ion cells for Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis models in 2026. That facility is one of 11 low-roofed buildings that encompass 697,000 square meters (70 hectares), their pale green walls designed to blend into the Georgia countryside.
Backed by $2.1 billion in state subsidies, the Metaplant is the largest public development project in Georgia’s history. Covering 70 hectares, it is the centerpiece of Hyundai’s $12.6 billion total investment in the state, including the battery factory built with LG Energy Solution that ICE and other agents raided in September. Christopher Payne/Esto
That battery plant made headlines in September, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents staged a workplace raid that led to more than 300 South Korean workers being detained and deported.
The episode highlighted the transnational cooperation—and tensions—inherent in importing a leading-edge manufacturing operation, a duality that might be familiar to anyone old enough to recall Japan’s game-changing entry into the U.S. automobile market in the 1970s and ’80s. The Metaplant is the largest publicly backed project in Georgia’s history. Its creation was accelerated by the Biden administration’s pro-EV policies, and it was also the centerpiece of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s bid to make his state “the electric mobility capital of the country.” Now, it was suddenly the latest flashpoint in an ongoing culture-and-trade war.
Automakers roll with the punches because they have no choice
An automated guided vehicle (AGV) prepares to pick up a rack of windshields from an automated trailer unloader, for “just in time” delivery to an assembly line where Ioniq 5 EVs are being built. There is no human intervention from the time parts arrive at the Metaplant’s loading docks to their installation. Christopher Payne/Esto
Robots perform myriad tasks, yet human hands are still best for precision work. Jerry Roach, the Metaplant’s assembly manager, says, “I want my people doing craftsmanship. I want to pay people well for the things humans do well, and take away the stuff that’s tedious and boring.” Christopher Payne/Esto
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