WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to make $3 billion from the $555 billion infrastructure legislation obtainable to corporations working to enhance U.S. manufacturing of batteries utilized in electric automobiles in an effort to lower the nation’s reliance on abroad producers, officers mentioned on Monday.
The cash will probably be given as price sharing grants to corporations concerned in all elements of the battery provide chain, together with the processing of supplies utilized in batteries and the recycling of previous batteries. As many as 30 corporations might obtain grants price greater than $50 million every, an administration official mentioned.
The Energy Department introduced in February its intent to make the funds obtainable.
President Joe Biden has set a objective of getting electric automobiles make up half of U.S. vehicle gross sales by 2030 and the infrastructure invoice contains billions of {dollars} for electric vehicle charging stations and buses. But the U.S. stays closely reliant on international corporations, notably in China, to produce the batteries required for the administration’s deliberate electric vehicle growth.
“We need a lot of batteries, and we want American workers making those batteries right here in America,” mentioned National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy in a name with reporters.
The transfer comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the financial dangers from America’s reliance on abroad provide chains and power imports. Administration officers have used the surge in fuel costs following the invasion to make the case for why the nation wants to make a shift in direction of electric automobiles.
“We’ve seen, even just in recent days, Putin trying to use Russia’s energy supply as a weapon against other nations,” mentioned Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council. “And that underscores why it’s so important that we in the United States reinvest and re-underwrite our own energy security.”
Biden additionally invoked the Defense Production Act in March to spur the production of the minerals wanted for electric vehicle batteries.
