Department of Energy

The U.S. will not achieve complete lithium battery supply chain independence by 2030, but the country could capture 60% of the economic value consumed by domestic demand for lithium batteries by that year, generating $33 billion in revenues and creating 100,000 jobs, if it implements a series of recommendations put forth in its just-released action plan, says Li-Bridge, a public-private alliance convened by the Department of Energy and managed by Argonne National Laboratory.

Created in 2021 and dedicated to accelerating the development of a robust and secure domestic supply chain for lithium-based batteries, the consortium released an action plan entitled “Building a Robust and Resilient U.S. Lithium Battery Supply Chain” containing 26 recommended actions to bolster the domestic lithium battery industry with the goal of putting the United States on a competitive path in the global battery value chain.

According to the Argonne National Lab, “the report complements a series of recent government initiatives designed to strengthen the country’s battery and semiconductor industries including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or BIL) and the CHIPS and Science Act, which together represent some of the most significant industrial policy initiatives in U.S. history.”

Recommendations range from investments into R&D and, removing barriers to market-entry to strengthening partnerships with other countries, and Congressional action to accelerate U.S. domestic mineral mining and processing projects. The report goes on to argue that Li-Bridge should be formalized to execute on its recommendations, effectively creating a public-private partnership to coordinate efforts across state, local and federal governments with private enterprises.

Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David M. Turk believes that “[t]he public-private partnerships described in this report will be crucial to realizing that safer, cleaner future that will benefit generations of Americans to come.”

With public-private sector cooperation having long both fueled and fed off the materials science revolution, which has been transforming the ways in which we use and obtain metals and minerals, placing a stronger emphasis on these cross-sector collaborations only makes sense.

In part fueled by the above referenced government initiatives, new partnerships between the public and private sectors to bolster the battery supply chain have sprung up, especially at the state level.

Recent cases in point:  the construction of battery plants in Coweta County, Georgia, and Van Buren Township, Michigan.  States like Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas have also attracted EV battery makers as automakers scramble to lock down supplies and policy stakeholders work to create frameworks conducive to attracting investment into these critical industries.

ARPN has featured several of these efforts — along with other initiatives and projects specific to the individual battery criticals (graphite, manganese, cobalt, nickel and lithium) in a series of posts.

As stakeholders step up their efforts, ARPN will continue to feature more examples of state level public-private cooperation or formalized public private partnerships (PPPs) to sustainably strengthen the domestic battery supply chain.

The global push towards net zero carbon marches on, and with sales of EVs continuing to soar even as prices rise, analysts suggest that the “world could be nearing a critical electric vehicle sales tipping point, when volatile adoption trends are overtaken by mainstream demand.” 

With skyrocketing demand, the mineral intensity of the green energy transition and supply chain challenges associated with our over-reliance on adversary nations, most notably China, has finally resonated with stakeholders. The passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the summer of 2021 represented an important step towards decoupling U.S. critical mineral supply chains from adversary nations.  Others have since followed.

Today marks another key step: As part of the implementation of the 2021 infrastructure law, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the first round of funding under the Act for projects aimed at “supercharging”  U.S. manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and electric grid.

Awardees — a total of 20 companies — will receive a combined $2.8 billion “to build and expand commercial scale facilities in 12 states to extract and process lithium, graphite and other battery materials, manufacture components, and demonstrate new approaches, including manufacturing components from recycled materials.”

According to the Department of Energy announcement, recipients will match the federal funds to leverage a total of more than $9 billion “to boost American production of clean energy technology, create good-paying jobs, and support President Biden’s national goals for electric vehicles to make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 and to transition to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.”

The supported projects span the entire value chain, with funding going towards:

• 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 first large-scale, commercial lithium electrolyte salt (LiPF6) production facility in the United States
• 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

The map provides a snapshot of anticipated project locations:

More details and individual project information can be accessed here.

According to DoE, the department “anticipates moving quickly on additional funding opportunities to continue to fill gaps in and strengthen the domestic battery supply chain,” and ARPN will continue to keep tabs on these efforts.

 

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