Biden administration announces $3B to support EV battery manufacturing

The Department of Energy on Monday announced a $3.16 billion grant program to aid domestic manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries. 

The funding, provided through the bipartisan infrastructure law, comes amid research projecting increased demand for electric vehicles and lithium ion batteries. Research from the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries indicates the lithium battery market will grow by a factor of 5 to 10 within the next 10 years. 

“Positioning the United States front and center in meeting the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our competitiveness and electrify our transportation system,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

“President Biden’s historic investment in battery production and recycling will give our domestic supply chain the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations — strengthening our clean energy economy, creating good paying jobs, and decarbonizing the transportation sector,” she said. 

The announcement comes the month after President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to step up mining of rare earth metals used in the production of batteries, and Brian Deese, director of the White House Economic Council, described that action as “complementary support” to the grant program on a press call Monday. 

The Biden administration has made a broader push for wider proliferation of electric vehicles and EV infrastructure as gas prices increase and the administration seeks to halve carbon emissions by the end of the decade. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the administration has also framed its domestic moves on renewable energy as an engine for both job creation and reducing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leverage over international energy supplies. 

“With today’s announcement, over $3 billion, we will ensure that the United States is not just the world leader in making batteries, but in innovating the advanced battery technologies that we need in the future and securing the supply chain so we can be less vulnerable to global supply disruptions and making this industry sustainable by recycling materials and using cleaner manufacturing processes,” White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said on the call.