Three AESC facilities in the US. Each in a different state of drift. Florence is paused with no restart timeline. Smyrna has been divested to a newly formed entity in what Energy-Storage.Newsframes as among the first FEOC-driven ownership restructurings in US battery manufacturing, though AESC's retained licensing and JV role raises compliance questions no one has publicly resolved. Bowling Green claims "full compliance" with state incentives whose first job target doesn't trigger until 2029. The stated narrative and the observable signals have diverged at all three sites, in different ways and at different speeds. The ledger below tracks how.
Status Headers
Florence, South Carolina | AESC (Envision Group) | Cylindrical cells for BMW Neue Klasse; cell chemistry not publicly disclosed by AESC | Stated: "anticipate being able to resume construction once circumstances stabilize" (SC Daily Gazette, 2025-06-05) | Assessed: Construction halted, no restart timeline, no financing identified. ~$1.2B invested, facility ~75% structurally complete, equipment installation stopped.
Smyrna, Tennessee | Fixx Energy (majority); AESC retains technology license and JV role | ~3 GWh LFP (ESS) | Stated: "first LFP ESS cell manufacturing facility in the United States" (Fixx Energy, 2026-05) | Assessed: Operational under new ownership. FEOC compliance of retained AESC licensing/JV structure unverified. No IRS or Treasury determination identified.
Bowling Green, Kentucky | AESC (Envision Group) | 30 GWh, expandable to 40 GWh; chemistry described as "next generation" with 30% higher energy density, not further specified | Stated: "still in full compliance" with state incentive agreement (KY Lantern, 2026-02-04) | Assessed: No independent verification of construction or operational progress since structural topping-out 2023-09. First job target (772 jobs) not due until 2029-12-31.
The Ledger
Florence, South Carolina
2022-12 through 2024-03 — Stated: AESC announced $3.12B across two factories, 2,700 jobs, in three investment rounds. Groundbreaking 2023-06-07. Observed: Construction began. Gap: None. Aligned.
2025-02-05 — Stated: AESC informed SC Commerce it "no longer has a fixed timeline" for Facility 2 ($1.5B). Observed: State Fiscal Accountability Authority retracted $111M in bonds; none had been disbursed. 130+ workers on-site vs. 1,620 target. SC Daily Gazette described the retraction as "a rare move." Gap: Phase 2 effectively cancelled.
2025-06-05 — Stated: AESC spokesperson:
"AESC has invested over $1 billion into the Florence facility, and we anticipate being able to resume construction once circumstances stabilize. AESC fully intends to meet our commitments."
Observed: Equipment installation halted. WSJ reported most equipment sourced from China, subject to tariffs reaching 145% before a temporary US-China agreement. Separately reported AESC was "looking to get a loan to finish" the plant. No DOE LPO commitment identified in any public source. Gap: "Anticipate resuming" without closed financing, without a restart date, with equipment under tariffs that did not exist at project inception.
2025-12-19 — Stated: AESC reiterated commitment to 1,600 jobs and $1.6B. Observed: Florence City Manager told WPDE: facility approximately 75% complete, $1.2B invested, major construction could resume in "eight to 12 months." Gap: Confirming signal on physical progress. But "could resume" is conditional, and the 8–12 month window (August–December 2026) is unanchored to any disclosed financing commitment.
2026-02-25 — Stated: AESC told the Post and Courier: "nothing has changed since the company's December 2025 statement." Observed: No construction activity reported. A $20M training center completed and operational; the plant it was built to serve is not. Gap: Twelve months into a "pause" with identical stated language.
Signal absence (Florence):
- No WARN Act filing identified (SC DOL)
- No job postings identified
- No construction permit activity in local reporting since June 2025
- No equipment supplier references (Wuxi Lead, Manz, Schuler) identified in earnings or press materials
- No satellite/aerial imagery analysis identified in trade press
- No DOE LPO commitment
- No 45X credit disclosures
- BMW has not publicly commented on the pause or on alternative cell sourcing for its Woodruff high-voltage assembly plant, which BMW spokesman Steve Wilson confirmed was "on schedule to begin in 2026." The downstream customer's silence on alternative sourcing, twelve months into a construction halt on cells designed specifically for its platform, is a named gap.
Smyrna, Tennessee
2012 through 2018 — Stated/Observed: AESC established the Smyrna factory in 2012 to supply NMC cells for the Nissan LEAF. Originally a Nissan/NEC/NEC Tokin JV. Nissan sold its majority stake to China's Envision Group in 2018; Nissan retained approximately 20–25%. Gap: None. Baseline established.
2025 (exact date not identified in public sources) — Stated: No public announcement of closure or chemistry change identified. Observed: AESC retooled the NMC EV line to 3 GWh LFP for stationary energy storage. AESC had been a primary supplier to Fluence; Fluence CEO previously disclosed Fluence had offered to acquire the factory, which AESC declined. Gap: Chemistry and application pivot (EV NMC → ESS LFP) occurred without public announcement. Consistent with broader industry pattern of EV-to-BESS conversion.
2026-04-01 — Stated: Energy-Storage.News attributed the sale explicitly to FEOC/PFE compliance under OBBBA rules. Fluence CEO stated cells "continue to qualify for tax credits." Observed: Fixx Energy took majority control. AESC retained a technology licensing agreement and JV role allowing AESC technology to be used in cells sold under the Fixx Energy name. Gap: The transaction was FEOC-motivated, but AESC (majority-owned by Envision Group, China) retains IP licensing and a JV stake in the facility it nominally divested. Under IRS Notice 2026-15, PFE status can be triggered by licensing agreements, JV structures, and material assistance. Fluence's tax credit claim is a company assertion; no IRS ruling or Treasury determination on this structure has been identified.
Fixx Energy corporate profile: Founded by VC Brett Conrad. CEO Jeff Juger spent eleven years at JinkoSolar, a Chinese-headquartered solar manufacturer, most recently as US Deputy General Manager. Not publicly traded. No SEC filings, no disclosed investor list, no state incorporation details found. Energy-Storage.News framed the AESC and JinkoSolar asset sales as the start of a wider restructuring pattern. Legal commentary (Mona Dajani, Cooley): "We are in the early innings and this process could be enormous."
What would resolve the gap: a public FEOC/PFE determination on the retained AESC licensing structure, or disclosure of ownership percentages and licensing terms sufficient for independent analysis. Neither exists in public sources as of 2026-05-23.
Bowling Green, Kentucky
2022-04-13 through 2023-09-14 — Stated: $2B investment, 30 GWh, 2,000 jobs, production by "early 2025." Observed: Groundbreaking 2022-08-30. Structural steel completed September 2023. $105.12M in state forgivable loans disbursed across two tranches (April and June 2023). Gap: None through topping-out. Aligned.
2025-06-17 — Stated: AESC spokesperson: "AESC remains fully committed to delivering 2,000 jobs and investing $2 billion... continuing to move forward with infrastructure improvements on site." (BG Daily News) Observed: WSJ reported AESC had "quietly stopped working" on the plant. Mayor Alcott confirmed the facility had not opened on schedule but told the BG Daily News his words were "misconstrued." The Daily News published photographic evidence of on-site activity on 2025-06-19. Alcott separately disclosed the company was pivoting toward "some energy storage solutions as well." Gap: Ambiguous. "Infrastructure improvements" is narrower language than 30 GWh gigafactory commissioning would require. The ESS pivot was disclosed by the mayor, not the company. Photographic evidence confirms some activity; it does not establish the nature or pace of that activity relative to the original timeline.
2026-02-04 — Stated: KY Economic Development Secretary Jeff Noel told the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee AESC was "still in full compliance" with its incentive agreement, which "has clawback provisions." Observed: First job benchmark (772 jobs) not due until 2029-12-31. $105.12M already disbursed. An unnamed legislator at the same hearing expressed "a lot of concerns." Gap: "Full compliance" here means no benchmarks have been missed, because the first one is nearly four years away. A facility that has received $105M and produced nothing remains "in compliance" until 2029. Specific clawback terms (repayment schedule, interest, acceleration provisions) were not disclosed at the hearing; the Kentucky economic development cabinet partially denied a related public records request.
Signal absence (Bowling Green):
- No local reporting on construction activity found between 2025-06 and 2026-05
- No job postings identified
- No equipment supplier references
- No construction permit activity identified in local reporting or county records
- No satellite/aerial imagery analysis identified in trade press
- No DOE LPO commitment
- No 45X credit disclosures
- No confirmed customer supply agreement; Mercedes-Benz, the probable customer at announcement, reduced its US EV output plans in 2024
- Eleven months without a single independently verifiable signal from a facility that was supposed to be producing cells by early 2025
Trajectory Assessment
Florence's gap is widening. The stated language has been identical for twelve months. No financing has materialized. The tariff environment on Chinese-sourced equipment has worsened since the pause. If the 8–12 month restart window cited by local officials in December 2025 holds, construction could resume by late 2026. Nothing in the public record supports that timeline. The rate of new information has itself declined, which is its own signal.
Smyrna is operational but structurally unresolved. The facility is producing and shipping LFP cells. The open question is whether the retained AESC licensing and JV arrangement survives FEOC/PFE scrutiny under the framework IRS Notice 2026-15 established. If the Fixx Energy structure holds, it becomes the template for Chinese-owned battery asset divestiture in the US. If it doesn't, Fluence's supply chain and every downstream project claiming ITC on Smyrna-sourced cells is exposed. Resolution will likely arrive through the first project-level ITC audit that tests this chain rather than through a preemptive Treasury ruling.
Bowling Green is the least legible facility in the US battery registry. A 30 GWh project that was supposed to be operational eighteen months ago has produced no independently verifiable evidence of progress since structural topping-out in September 2023. The state incentive framework cannot distinguish between a facility under construction and one that has stalled, because the first performance trigger is nearly four years away. The mayor's unconfirmed disclosure of an ESS pivot suggests the original EV mission may already be abandoned in practice, though AESC has said nothing to confirm this. $105M in forgivable loans sits disbursed against a building with steel up and, as far as any public source can determine, nothing inside it.
Florence and Bowling Green share a common feature: no constraint that caused the original divergence has visibly moved. Smyrna's facility works; the regulatory question that determines whether its output carries ITC value does not yet have an answer. Across all three, the same company language ("fully committed," "full compliance," "anticipate resuming") has repeated while observable signals have either deteriorated or gone silent.
Last verified: 2026-05-23. No DOE LPO commitment, 45X credit disclosure, or WARN Act filing identified for any AESC US facility.
Things to follow up on...
-
Fixx Energy FEOC determination: IRS proposed regulations on PFE determination methodology were telegraphed in Notice 2026-15 but not yet issued, and their treatment of retained licensing and JV structures will determine whether the Smyrna transaction template holds or collapses.
-
BMW alternative cell sourcing: BMW's Woodruff high-voltage assembly plant was confirmed on schedule for 2026 by spokesman Steve Wilson, but BMW has made no public statement on where it will source cylindrical cells if Florence does not restart, a gap that becomes more consequential with each quarter.
-
Kentucky clawback trigger timeline: The $105.12M in state forgivable loans disbursed to AESC Bowling Green has a first job benchmark of 772 positions by 2029-12-31, per documents surfaced in a state legislator's open records request, and the Kentucky economic development cabinet's partial denial of that request leaves the full repayment terms unverified.
-
Wider FEOC-driven divestiture pattern: Energy-Storage.News reported the AESC and JinkoSolar asset sales as the opening moves in what Cooley's Mona Dajani called a process that "could be enormous", and whether additional Chinese-owned US battery or solar manufacturing assets follow the same majority-stake-sale template will test how broadly the PFE regime reshapes ownership structures.