Mercedes-Benz Breaks Ground on Alabama Battery Factory

The Mercedes EQC and other EVs will need lots of batteries

Mercedes-Benz has started construction of a factory that will produce electric-car batteries near its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, assembly plant. The German automaker is spending $1 billion in order to build electric SUVs in Alabama.

The battery plant will be located seven miles from the existing Tuscaloosa assembly plant, a Mercedes statement said. The automaker said the new plant will create 600 jobs in the region. The Alabama plant will be one of six global factories supplying batteries for future Mercedes electric cars, along with three in Germany, one in China, and one in Thailand. Mercedes plans to offer at least one electrified powertrain (hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or all-electric) in each model it makes by 2022.