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DOE Awards $7 Billion for EV Manufacturing

Automakers and suppliers will receive nearly $2 billion in federal grants to expand electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly across eight states (The Washington Post, subscription).

What’s going on: “The Energy Department on Thursday unveiled $1.7 billion for retooling 11 auto factories to make electric vehicles and their components, with a focus on facilities that have shuttered or could close without federal help.”

  • The 11 facilities are located in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Indiana.
  • The funds cover a broad swath of the automotive supply chain, including components for electric motorcycle and school buses, heavy-duty commercial truck batteries and hybrid powertrains (Associated Press).

How it will be used: The money will be used for a variety of efforts, including converting auto assembly plants to make EVs, retooling factories to manufacture electric motorcycles and decarbonizing operations.

Why it’s important: “Many of these facilities faced a real risk of closure without the infusion of federal cash,” according to the Post.

  • And “[i]f awards are completed as planned, the selected projects would create more than 2,900 jobs,” the AP reports.  

However … The funding is “conditional upon successful negotiations” with the recipients, according to the Post.   

Our take: “The incentives established and expanded under the IRA have supercharged investments made by manufacturers in the clean energy transition,” said NAM Director of Energy and Resources Policy Michael Davin. “It is essential that the criteria for these incentives remain flexible so that manufacturers writ large can take full advantage of them.”

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