Gov. Andy Beshear, Envision AESC executives and a group of elected officials break ground on the AESC electric vehicle battery technology gigafactory on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (GRACE MCDOWELL / Daily News)

Work on a $2 billion electric vehicle battery gigafactory from the company AESC is continuing in the Kentucky Transpark, even as the company’s similar facility in South Carolina has had construction paused due to economic concerns.

“We are continuing to move forward with infrastructure improvements on site,” AESC spokesperson Brad Grantham told the Daily News.

AESC (Automotive Energy Supply Corp.) is a Japan-based company that manufactures batteries for electric vehicles. According to its website, the company has supplied batteries to carmakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Nissan.

The company broke ground on its Bowling Green facility in August 2022 in a ceremony attended by company officials, local government representatives and Gov. Andy Beshear. The Daily News reported then the 3-million square foot facility would eventually employ 2,000 people.

AESC is building another facility near Florence, South Carolina, but according to a June 5 article in the South Carolina Daily Gazette, construction on the facility there has been halted, with the company citing “policy and market uncertainty” as the reason.

“Though policy and market uncertainty are impacting the industry, AESC remains fully committed to delivering 2,000 jobs and investing $2 billion in the Bowling Green facility,” company spokesperson Brad Grantham stated to the Daily News.

South Carolina’s $1.6 billion plant is expected to employ 1,600 people once it opens, the Gazette stated. Dirt was turned on this facility two years ago.

The Daily News reported in April 2022 that the Bowling Green facility represented the largest economic development project in southcentral Kentucky’s history and the second-largest ever in Kentucky, behind the Ford Motor Company’s battery plants coming to Hardin County.

AESC currently operates a plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, along with an office in Murfreesboro and an office in California, according to the company’s webpage.