U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm was in Michigan recently to announce $3.16 billion for American battery manufacturing and participate in the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) ribbon-cutting ceremony in East Lansing.
The Biden administration announced plans for more than $3 billion in grants to spark the expansion of high-capacity battery production as well as the sourcing for materials to produce the batteries and recycle them after use, a report from the Detroit Free Press said this week.
“We built car 1.0 (in Michigan), you better believe we’re going to build car 2.0, which is the electric vehicle,” Granholm told the Free Press.
Amid the grant announcement, the nation continues to deal with a range of supply chain issues, especially for the production and import of semiconductors needed for the auto industry, leaving that segment reeling; the Free Press report said.
The $3.16 billion in federal funding will actually be doubled to more than $6 billion because private-sector companies will be required to match funds, leading to a financial boost for that segment; Granholm told Crain’s Detroit, quoted by Energy.gov.
"That's a lot of money to build out this part of the supply chain," she told Crain’s. "And that means that's a lot of jobs to build out this part of the supply chain.”
Granholm noted that the infrastructure law passed by the Biden administration last year provides funding for components for electric vehicles, a report from WXYZ said this week. She also told Fox2 Detroit that production for battery materials — which now are produced in China — could be moved back to the United States, creating more jobs.
Additionally, the energy secretary attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the campus of Michigan State University for the FRIB, a project that is a nearly $1 billion investment; a report from Michigan Advance said this week. Over the last century, approximately 2,000 isotopes have been investigated around the world, and the FRIB could more than double that number.
“We cannot walk away from our nuclear energy,” Granholm said at the event, quoted by WPNB-TV. “Nuclear energy is zero-carbon emitting, base low power. We want to see more of it.”
Granholm also noted at the event that many state and federal leaders have worked in recent years to lift Michigan from its economic problems.
“In 2008, the notion of being able to give people hope about the future was really important, even as people were struggling so much,” she said in the Michigan Advance report.
Ultimately, the infrastructure bill can provide the tools needed to create jobs and bring clean energy to Michigan, Granholm said in a report from WWJ NewsRadio 950.
“All of the pieces of the clean energy sector — we need to build them all here, and the president has fought through, through the bipartisan infrastructure law, as well as through the next step in his agenda, which is the tax credits for the clean energy to be able to do manufacturing," she told WWJ.
