ATLANTA — A small Georgia town will soon become a national hub for electric vehicle manufacturing.

Rivian and Georgia leaders officially announced Thursday that the company will build a plant in Morgan County.

The plant is expected to bring thousands of jobs to the state and cost around $5 billion.

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The EV world has come a long way in a short period of time, and Georgia is proving to be right in the middle of it.

Rivian, based in Irvine, California, is a startup manufacturer of electric trucks and commercial delivery vans, challenging both established automakers like Ford and General Motors and electric vehicle leader Tesla.

“Just tremendous opportunities for great paying jobs with an innovative company and that’s what we’ve seen with other great companies that we have in the mega site. And it’s much going to be like KIA has transformed West Point, and like the SK innovations really transforming Commerce, Georgia and Jackson County,” Kemp said.

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Rivian is the largest industrial announcement in Georgia history, surpassing the 4,400-worker Kia complex that opened in West Point in 2009. Kia received more than $450 million in incentives for its plant.

“One of the reasons they chose Georgia is that we can get them to the market fast. We’ve got a great site. You know, we’re already preparing to start working on that site,” Kemp said.

Construction on the facility is expected to begin in summer 2022, and the start of production is slated for 2024.

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The entire project will support the expansion of the U.S. electric vehicle industry and will serve to decarbonize the transportation and energy sectors.

“My vision is that Georgia should lead the nation in renewable energy, and today’s announcement is a huge step forward,” Sen. Jon Ossoff said. “I thank our state’s leaders for working collaboratively to attract this investment and look forward to hosting Rivian and the thousands of jobs that will be created to produce Georgia-made electric vehicles.”

The plant could grow to as many as 8,000 workers, Rivian said, which would make it among the largest auto assembly complexes in the United States, rivaled by behemoths such as the BMW complex in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Ford Motor Co.’s plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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