NEW ORLEANS, L.A. – Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. is celebrating today’s announcement from the United States Department of Energy that the recently-passed Infrastructure Law is allocating $2.8 billion to 20 manufacturing and processing companies' projects across 12 states to bolster America’s battery supply chain. $319.8 million will be heading to two projects in Louisiana, including $100 million to the St. Gabriel LiPF6 Manufacturing Plant located in Louisiana’s Second Congressional District. A fact sheet on the funding for the St. Gabriel plant, which will be the first U.S. manufacturing plant for lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) in the nation, is here. Electrolytes allow lithium ions to flow through a lithium-ion battery used in electric vehicles (EVs), and LiPF6 is the primary salt used in the electrolytes. The second grant in Louisiana is for a $219,820,610 investment in the expansion of Syrah’s Commercial-Scale Natural Graphite Active Anode Material Facility in Vidalia (page 21).
Congressman Carter and the Biden-Harris Administration are focused on tackling climate change and have launched an ambitious goal to help cut carbon emissions by making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric. These goals are launching historic investments in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, which is expected to increase demand for the materials and minerals used in the battery supply chain. Today’s announcements demonstrate how the United States is poised to meet this challenge while growing our economy and creating high-quality union jobs in the battery supply chain.
“We know there is a path to a cleaner, greener, safer future for our nation, we just have to be bold enough and strategic enough to bring it into reality,” said Congressman Carter. “Electric vehicles and the advanced batteries that power them are vital to the clean energy economy, and the investments announced today will help power our domestic manufacturing and battery supply chain into the future. As we expand these manufacturing initiatives we must simultaneously protect the health and well-being of the people who live in close proximity to these plants. Environmental justice cannot be put on the back burner.”
The first set of projects funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for EVs and the electrical grid including $2.8 billion for 20 manufacturing and processing companies in 12 states, including Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington.
When matched by recipients, the funding leverages a total of more than $9 billion to boost American production of EV batteries. The projects will have positive impact on their own and will catalyze a whole U.S. industry in the critical phases of the battery supply chain.
The funding for the selected projects will support:
Developing enough battery-grade lithium to supply approximately 2 million EVs annually.
Developing enough battery-grade graphite to supply approximately 1.2 million EVs annually.
Producing enough battery-grade nickel to supply approximately 400,000 EVs annually.
Installing the nation’s first large-scale, commercial lithium electrolyte salt (LiPF6) production facility.
Developing an electrode binder facility capable of supplying 45% of the anticipated domestic demand for binders for EV batteries in 2030.
Creating the first commercial-scale domestic silicon oxide production facilities to supply anode materials for an estimated 600,000 EV batteries annually.
Installing the first lithium iron phosphate cathode facility in the United States.
All projects will develop enough lithium to supply over 2 million EVs annually and establish significant domestic production of graphite and nickel.
President Biden is also announcing the American Battery Materials Initiative, a new effort to mobilize the entire government in securing a reliable and sustainable supply of critical minerals used for power, electricity, and EVs. Together, these actions will improve America’s energy independence, strengthen national security, support good-paying jobs across battery supply chains, and lower costs for working families.
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