The U.S. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is highlighting LG Energy Solutions’ (LGES) $5.5 billion investment in Queen Creek to create two new EV battery manufacturing plants, scheduled to be operational by 2025, as a key achievement of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

LGES’ expansion is one of the latest in a series of major battery and electric vehicle manufacturing investments that Arizona has landed since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act — helping to cement the state’s reputation as “an innovation hub for renewable energy,” the EDF highlighted in a news release. 

“Queen Creek, a suburb southeast of Phoenix, is now the site of the largest investment in a single battery facility in all of North America,” it continued. 

LGES originally announced a $1.4 billion investment to build a cylindrical battery factory to power electric and clean-energy vehicles. After a long period of silence, the company said this year that it would quadruple its investment in the plants, scheduled to be constructed near Ironwood and Germann Roads and expected to be among Queen Creek’s largest employers. 

“These Arizona-made batteries will power green, sustainable technologies around the world, cementing Arizona’s reputation as an innovation hub for renewable energy. We’re grateful to LGES for their legacy investment and for committing to making thousands of good-paying jobs for Arizonans,” a statement from the town said after announcing the revised, $5.5 billion investment. 

“Our decision to invest in Arizona demonstrates our strategic initiative to continue expanding our global production network, which is already the largest in the world, to further advance our innovative and top-quality products in scale and with speed,” said Youngsoo Kwon, CEO of LG Energy Solution, after the revised investment was announced. “We believe it’s the right move at the right time in order to empower clean energy transition in the U.S.”

According to the EDF, Arizona has an estimated $10.9 billion in investments and 11,500 jobs associated with EV manufacturing and the batteries to power them.

“That means announced EV investments in the state have almost tripled in the last six months alone,” the EDF said.

“We expect Arizona won’t be alone in seeing huge job growth and investment from the Inflation Reduction Act,” the EDF reported. “The law has turbocharged EV markets in the U.S. And more EV’s on our roads will ultimately mean more Americans will save money on fuel and maintenance costs, and we’ll all have cleaner air to breathe and a safer climate.”

EV Investments in the U.S. continue apace a year after the IRA’s passage, key tax credits of which were helpful to LGES’s Queen Creek plants. LGES said its decision was partly driven by the IRA, which include federal incentives for the sale and production of electric vehicles and batteries in the United States. 

LGES’ customers include GM, Ford, Honda and Tesla. 

A handful of other companies have announced EV-related facilities in Arizona recently as well. 

In March, the EDF released a report that found more than $120 billion in investments and 143,000 new U.S. jobs had been announced in the last eight years, but more than 40% of those announcements happened since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year.