Biden awards $3bn to boost domestic battery production

American Battery Technology and lithium-producer Albemarle are among 25 companies getting more than $3-billion in funding from the Biden administration to boost domestic production of advanced batteries and components.

The funding — part of a broader White House goal of creating an American battery supply chain — is going to projects that are building, expanding or retrofitting facilities to process critical minerals, build components and batteries and recycle materials, the Energy Department said Friday.

American Battery Technology received $150-million to build a commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility in South Carolina. Albemarle is getting $67-million to retrofit a facility to manufacture commercial anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries around Charlotte, North Carolina. Other projects included $50-million for Cabot and $225-million for SWA Lithium, a joint venture of Standard Lithium and Equinor.

Batteries — which are used for electric vehicles as well as storing renewable energy for use on the electric grid — are considered critical to reaching the administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and for boosting electric vehicles to half of all new light-duty vehicle sales by 2030.

The Energy Department, which is awarding the funding through its Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, has said rising demand may increase the lithium battery market by fivefold to tenfold by the end of the decade, making domestic investment essential.

“This is a much-needed investment in our domestic battery manufacturing capacity — a global industrial arena that will define our future competitiveness and energy security,” said Abigail Hunter, an executive director with SAFE, a Washington think-tank that advocates for US energy independence. “We must be strategic and aggressive in our approach.”