ENERGY CHIEF GRANHOLM TOUTS $3B PLAN TO BOOST EV BATTERIES

Continuing its push to dramatically boost sales of electric vehicles, the Biden administration announced $3.1 billion in funding to U.S. companies that make and recycle lithium-ion batteries.

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The investments from last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure law are separate from an executive order President Joe Biden issued this spring, invoking the Defense Production Act boost production of lithium and other critical minerals used to power electric vehicles.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the new program will offer grants to companies that process or recycle battery components to increase domestic supplies of a market now dominated by China and other countries. The grants will help strengthen U.S. energy independence and support Biden’s goal to have electric vehicles make up half of all vehicles sales in America by 2030, she said.

Electric vehicles accounted for 4.2% of U.S. new vehicle sales in the first quarter of this year, according to Edmunds.com.

“Positioning the United States front and center in meeting the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our competitiveness and electrify our transportation system,” Granholm said in a statement.

Granholm, a former Michigan governor, announced the battery initiative during a visit to her home state to highlight clean-energy provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed in November.