Image from Tesla.
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The most critical element of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was the broad effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, and especially cleantech blue collar (or “green collar”) jobs in the fast growing EV, battery storage, and solar industries. We’ve never had such serious and impactful reshoring legislation in the United States.
Part of that was also blocking EVs that used battery supplies from China from being eligible for tax credits. Of course, Donald Trump has also been talking a big “anti China” game for years, which even bigger tariffs on products produced in China — in whole or in part — are expected. Biden put a 100% tariff on EVs from China, but Trump’s tariffs would be broader — and would apparently affect Tesla’s battery supplies.
So, Reuters has reported that Panasonic Energy, a major battery supplier for Tesla, which produces many of Tesla’s battery cells at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, is working hard to get more of its battery supplies sourced from the US instead of China. This is a “No.1 objective” for the company. It wants to not just reduce but eliminate any dependence its supply chain has on China.
We’ll keep an eye on things, but expect Tesla’s US batteries to have a lot less Chinese-processed minerals soon.
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Zachary Shahan
Zach is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.
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