White House awards electric vehicle battery grants

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that 20 companies in 12 states will get $2.8 billion in grants to boost domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. Biden said he wants to counter China’s allegedly unfair subsidies and trade practices that are undercutting U.S. manufacturing. He said right now, China manufactures 75 percent of the world’s batteries for electric vehicles. The grants are funded by last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure law. 

Are any private companies investing in batteries? BMW said Wednesday that it will invest $1 billion in a factory in Spartanburg, S.C., to start building electric vehicles. It also said it will spend $700 million to build a battery plant nearby. The plants that are receiving grants from the White House are mostly in the South and Midwest.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Stew on Alaska looking to nuclear power to meet energy needs.