According to Reuters, on September 20, the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans to allocate $3 billion to 25 battery manufacturing projects across 14 states in an effort to reduce reliance on Chinese battery supply chains.
These projects aim to increase domestic production of advanced batteries and battery materials while adhering to U.S. electric vehicle tax credit regulations, with the goal of relocating battery production and critical minerals from China to the U.S.
The funding will support projects involving battery-grade processing of critical minerals, components, battery manufacturing, and recycling, attracting a total investment of $16 billion and supporting 12,000 production and construction jobs.
U.S. government climate advisor Ali Zaidi stated, "Mineral security is critical to climate security. It enables us to lead in next-generation battery technologies, from solid-state batteries to other new chemical batteries."
Under the new funding, Albemarle Corporation will receive $67 million for a project in North Carolina to produce commercial-grade anode materials needed for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. Honeywell will be awarded $126.6 million to build a commercial-scale facility in Louisiana for producing key electrolyte salts for lithium-ion batteries.
The Department of Energy also plans to grant $100 million to Dow for producing battery-grade carbonate solvents necessary for lithium-ion battery electrolytes. Additionally, Clarios Circular Solutions, in partnership with SK ON and Cosmo Chemical, will receive $150 million for a project in South Carolina aimed at recycling lithium-ion battery waste from SK ON's battery division.
Currently, most production waste in the U.S. is processed by material traders, primarily exported to China.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy plans to allocate $225 million to the joint venture SWA Lithium, formed by Standard Lithium and Equinor, for producing lithium carbonate using direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. The department also intends to grant $225 million to TerraVolta Resources for extracting lithium from brine using DLE technology.
Revex Technologies, co-founded by Lundin Mining, is set to receive $145 million to convert waste from the only operating primary nickel mine in Michigan into nickel, providing material for batteries of at least 462,000 electric vehicles annually.
The Department of Energy also plans to allocate $166 million to South32 Hermosa in Patagonia, Arizona, for extracting components used in electric vehicle battery chemicals: high-purity monohydrate manganese sulfate (HPMSM). Currently, over 96% of HPMSM is produced in China.
Additionally, the department plans to allocate $166.1 million to Element 25 for another HPMSM project in Louisiana, extracting HPMSM from Element 25's manganese mine in Western Australia.
Group14 Technologies will receive $200 million to build a domestic silane manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington. Silane is a material required for silicon batteries, with its largest source currently being China.
Birla Carbon will also receive $150 million for producing next-generation synthetic graphite without using materials sourced from China.
Previously, the Department of Energy allocated $1.82 billion to 14 projects. The selected projects must complete negotiations and environmental reviews before receiving funding.
