Input Stories

A group of automakers, lithium producers and battery manufacturers have created a coalition to push for federal policies supporting U.S.-based processing and production of batteries and battery components, according to POLITICO Pro’s ENGERYWIRE (subscription).

The details: The Coalition for American Battery Independence comprises Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., among others, and will be administered by energy lobby Boundary Stone Partners.

• “We’re capable of competing on the global stage, and that’s really what this coalition is about,” Mike Carr, a partner at Boundary Stone, told ENERGYWIRE.
• The hope in creating CABI is that through public–private partnership advocacy supporting battery production, the group will create an environment that spurs large investments.

The bigger picture: “CABI’s debut comes as the Biden administration moves to invest in domestic battery supply chains. DOE announced in February that it would invest almost $3 billion in advanced battery projects through the bipartisan infrastructure law.”

• “The White House also invoked the Defense Production Act in March to boost battery production, citing concerns in a briefing about dependence on ‘unreliable foreign sources for many of the strategic and critical materials necessary for the clean energy transition.’”

New plant venture: Stellantis NV and Samsung SDI Co. announced this week they had reached an agreement to collaborate on a multibillion-dollar lithium-ion battery plant in Indiana.

Not a quick fix: “[T]here is a ‘broader conversation to be had’ about mineral extraction for the energy industry,” Carr told the publication.

• “‘The fact of the matter is we have a robust set of environmental laws in the United States,’ he said. ‘Generally speaking, if you do extraction in the United States, there’s going to be a lot more support for workers’ rights, a lot more support for the local communities and environmental justice concerns, than there has been historically in a lot of our competitor nations.’”