- The Biden-Harris administration today announced an additional $3 billion to boost America's battery production.
- Government grants and loans will span across the supply chain, from solid-state batteries, recycling, silicon-anode production, LFP batteries and more.
- The investment will mostly go to southern states and is expected to generate 12,000 construction and manufacturing jobs.
After lagging behind China for years in the battery industry, the U.S. is taking serious steps to catch up and localize its electric vehicle battery supply chain by boosting domestic production.
The Biden-Harris administration today awarded an additional $3 billion to support the build out of local factories of critical materials, components and battery recycling. This is the second round of funds being awarded as part of a broader $16 billion investment to build America's battery industry.
The U.S. Department of Energy will distribute the funding among 25 projects across 14 states. Majority of the projects are going to the Carolinas, with six of the 25 projects located in South Carolina alone (Check out the full list below). Overall, the latest round of funding is expected to generate 12,000 construction and manufacturing jobs, according to the DOE.
The projects span across the battery supply chain, with loans and grants going to companies involved in upstream manufacturing like extracting lithium, graphite and manganese.
Lithium is the key component in a battery whereas graphite is typically used to make the anode or the negative side of the battery. Manganese, on the other hand, is added to the battery's cathode to make it safe and stable and is also a key component in NCM batteries. If these materials are produced locally, they would help bring EV costs down.
The federal grants will also boost production of electrolyte salts, which are special chemicals in the electrolyte that helps lithium-ions travel between the battery's positive and negative electrodes. Plus, the U.S. DOE will invest in next-generation technologies like solid-state electrolytes, which is considered the next big thing in the evolution of EV batteries.
Among the beneficiaries of the Biden-Harris administration's latest round of funding is American Battery Technology Company in South Carolina that will get $150 million to construct a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility to process 100,000 tonnes of battery materials annually.
Albemarle, which is one of the two companies involved in lithium extraction in Chile's Atacama salt flats will get $67 million to retrofit a plant near Charlotte, North Carolina, to produce commerical-grade anode for next-gen EV batteries.
The largest awards are going to Canadian company SWA Lithium and Texas-based TerraVolta Resources. Both companies will get $225 million each to produce EV battery raw materials.
SWA's project will be located in West Arkansas where it is expected to produce up to 45,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate with a minimum two-decade lifespan.
TerraVolta on the other hand aims to use the awarded funds to produce 25,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent that it claims will power 500,000 EVs and eliminate over 2.2 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
Here's a full list of battery component and recycling companies that will receive hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds.
| Name | Federal Cost Share | Supply Chain Segment | Location |
| American Battery Technology Company | $150 million | Recycling | South Carolina |
| Albemarle U.S. Inc. | $67 million | Lithium anodes | Charlotte NC region |
| Ascend Elements | $125 million | Recovery, purification of graphite from recycled black mass | Hopkinsville, KY |
| Blue Whale Materials | $55 million | Recycling | Bartlesville, OK |
| Braskem America | $50 million | Polyethylene production | La Porte, TX |
| Cabot Corporation | $50 million | Conductive additives | Van Buren Township, MI |
| Cirba Solutions | $200 million | Recycling | Columbia, SC |
| Clarious Circular Solutions | $150 million | Recycling | Florence, SC |
| The Dow Chemical Company | $100 million | Carbonate solvent for electrolytes | U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Element 25 | $166 million | Manganese separation and processing | Baton Rouge area, LA |
| EnerSys Advanced Systems | $198 million | Li-ion cell production | Piedmont, SC |
| Forge Battery | $100 million | High performance batteries | Morrisville, NC |
| Form Energy | $150 million | Iron-air storage energy system | Weirton, WV |
| Group14 Technologies | $200 million | Silane production for silicon anodes | Moses Lake, WA |
| Honeywell International | $126 million | Electrolyte salt production | Geismar, LA |
| Li industries | $55 million | Recycling | Kettering, OH |
| Mitra Future Technologies | $100 million | LFP production | Muskegon, MI |
| Nanograf | $60 million | Silicon anode production | Flint, MI |
| Revex Technologies | $145 million | Green nickel production | Champion and Gwen, MI |
| SKI U.S. | $150 million | Graphite production | Orangeburg, SC |
| Solid Power Operating | $50 million | Sulfide-based solid electrolytes | Thorton, CO |
| South 32 Hermosa | $166 million | Manganese production | Patagonia, AZ |
| SWA Lithium | $225 million | Lithium carbonate | Lewisville, AR |
| TerraVolta resources | $225 million | Lithium carbonate | Texarkana region |
| Urbix | $124 million | Graphite production | Muscle Shoals, AL |
