UC Economic leaders believe the arrival of electric bike manufacturer Life EV will boost the economy by attracting new businesses to Putnam County.
Highlands Economic Partnership Vice President Adam Poe said the company is a leading manufacturer of electric bikes in the United States. Poe said the presence of the facility will create more opportunities for career exploration and community collaboration.
“It’s important that we recruit businesses here that are going to be here for the long haul,” Poe said. “The next 50 years, there’s there’s going to be a lot of change in manufacturing across the board. So we need to be recruiting companies that are going to embrace the opportunities for technology now and continue to kind of lead that way as a waymaker.”
Poe said the new e-bike facility will include a research and development arm to study bike battery components. Poe said the expansion provides a platform for startups and entrepreneurs to work alongside the company as it scales its operations.
“There’s going to be opportunities for spin-off or ancillary businesses to come in and support a manufacturer of this size,” Poe said. “There’s going to be a lot of assembly that takes place there, so I would assume, like, welding opportunities are going to come up, skilled trades, skilled machinists, that’s going to be an absolute need as they continue to move forward.”
Poe said the Upper Cumberland possesses a workforce that supports both clean energy and outdoor activity. Poe said LEV will be able to remain agile and serve customer needs by utilizing the local labor pool as well as expand across the region.
“They’re not bottlenecked by an ocean that’s right next to them,” Poe said. “They can access a third of the United States population within a day’s drive now.”
Poe said industrial diversification is necessary to prevent a “bidding war” for employees that can occur when too many similar manufacturers compete in the same market. Poe said bringing in diverse partners with different workforce needs is the key to building a sustainable industrial ecosystem.
“Diversification is something that you’re going to continue to see, and then also embracing innovation and technology is going to be something that you continue to see,” Poe said.
Poe said the move toward high-tech manufacturing helps protect the local economy from the impact of plant closures, like the loss of 420 jobs when Perdue plant in Monterey shut down last year.
“Being able to have a diversification of our industry portfolio to where, like, it’s a new and different type of business that doesn’t cannibalize the workforce, that does provide more opportunity, that does provide great wages,” Poe said. “Well, if something does happen, there’s going to be a fantastic landing spot for the other manufacturers in the area to be able to absorb that.”
Poe also said the local production of electric bikes aligns with the region’s history of outdoor fitness and natural assets. Poe said the technology will provide more people with access to the miles of bike trails located throughout Putnam County.