Department of Energy boosts domestic battery supply chain with billions in funding

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Billions of dollars were opened up by the DOE to build up domestic supply chains for batteries. The Biden administration wants to transition the nation to electric vehicles and clean energy.

The DOE says it will give $3.1 billion to companies to create new, retrofitted, and expanded commercial facilities to process materials, make batteries, and recycle them at the end of their lives. $60 million in grants from the DOE will be used to find second uses for old EV batteries. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed last year.

The Biden administration has big goals for clean energy and transportation in the US. He committed the US to halving its greenhouse gas emissions this decade. The administration wants to make sure that half of all new car sales are electric or hybrid by the end of the decade, and they want the power grid to run completely on carbon pollution-free energy by 2035.

That kind of future hinges on having the battery technology to make electric vehicles more affordable as well as to store wind and solar energy so that it can be used when the sun is out.

A DOE analysis last year found that US battery production capacity wouldn't be able to meet half of the projected demand for batteries for electric vehicles by the year 2028. The battery supply chains are concentrated in just a few countries. There are allegations of labor abuses, like a lawsuit against the companies for the deaths of child workers.

The Biden administration has made a number of moves to get its hands on more batteries. In March, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to bolster domestic mining and the processing of minerals that are vital for battery-making. In June of last year, the Department of Energy put out a national plan for making batteries. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $7 billion for domestic battery supply chains, from gathering raw materials to making battery cells and recycling them at the end of their lives.