Regardless of where one stands on the future of electric vehicles in the U.S., most agree that a reduced dependence upon China would be a good thing, reports Baton Rouge Business Report.
That’s the reasoning behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s November 2023 announcement that $3.5 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, would be used to boost the domestic production of EV batteries and battery materials, a market almost exclusively dominated by China.
It’s the minerals needed to produce the batteries—lithium, cobalt, manganese, iron, graphite and nickel—that are the biggest problem for the fledgling industry. EVs require six times more metals and minerals than internal combustion engines, and to create a domestic supply chain much of it must be mined and shipped from other countries.
Robert Bryce, a Substack energy writer and public speaker, says it’s a case of too little, too late, since over the past three decades China has built a dominant role in the EV supply chain, making it nearly impossible for the U.S. to catch up. Read more.
