The Biden administration in the U.S. has announced that $3.5 billion in new federal funds will be provided to support the battery industry. This package is the second part of a major program that provided over $6 billion to the first beneficiaries last year.
By August 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is set to announce the application for the first round of funding. This package specifically focuses on battery manufacturing and recycling, as well as the extraction and development of battery raw materials. All specific requirements can be checked on the DOE’s Infrastructure Exchange website.
The areas of the battery supply chain that this funding specifically aims to encourage include the extraction of lithium from brine and hard rock mining operations, the production of silane gas for battery anode, and rare earth metals. On the battery production side, various cells and chemicals, including next-generation solid-state batteries and their various components, can receive funding.
Both pilot and commercial-scale projects are eligible for funding.
There are concerns about whether this package investment will continue, given the political situation and the fact that it may take 10 to 20 years for the U.S. government’s investment in the battery industry to bear fruit. However, the dominant opinion is that securing a raw material supply chain is an inevitable choice.
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