Investment in electric vehicle batteries and chargers has reached historic highs. Since the passage of the Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in November 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, the United States has seen monumental growth in battery and charger manufacturing for electric vehicles (EVs). Private and public investment in the manufacturing of batteries and EV chargers has totaled more than $45 billion since the IRA’s passage. This investment has grown substantially every quarter since its passage. In fact, there was more battery and EV charger investment in just the first quarter of 2024 than there had been in all of 2022.
A recent analysis by Rhodium Group and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research finds that between 2021 and 2023, annual investment into the EV and battery supply chain in the United States increased by more than 180 percent. This investment has resulted in increased demand for EV industry labor and job opportunities for numerous low- and moderate-income communities.
The transportation sector accounts for the greatest share (28 percent) of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Continued investment and adoption of clean energy technologies, including EV batteries and chargers, is vital to reduce emissions. EV adoption rates in the United States grew 40 percent in 2023, necessitating strategic investment in a national EV charging network to keep up with zero-emissions vehicle deployment.
A critical aspect of the United States’ joint-agency “Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization”—which aims for zero emissions by 2050—is to expand the domestic supply chain of batteries and charging infrastructure. The blueprint outlines goals such as building a network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030. The Build America Buy America Act requires that at least 55 percent of all components for federally funded EV chargers be manufactured domestically.
With substantial investments occurring since IRA’s passage, many communities across the U.S., particularly those with high poverty rates, are experiencing growth in clean energy manufacturing facilities. CAP's analysis found that about three-quarters of EV batteries' investment occurred in communities with median household incomes below $74,755—the national median income—and districts with poverty rates above 12.6 percent.
In early 2024 alone, nearly $7.5 billion went to congressional districts with higher-than-average poverty rates out of a total $11.5 billion invested nationwide. Such investments are expected to create jobs; over one-third of new clean energy technology jobs have emerged within low-income communities across multiple states over the past year.
The city of Marshall, Michigan serves as an example where Ford is investing $3.5 billion into an EV battery plant anticipated to bring approximately 2,500 jobs to an area with lower-than-national-average median household income.
Union wins have further bolstered this trend towards equitable growth within these new industries; workers at Volkswagen's Tennessee-based plant recently joined UAW while Ultium Cells reached a tentative contract agreement guaranteeing significant wage increases among other benefits.
Conclusively, historic investments made toward expanding America's electric vehicle infrastructure are increasingly directed towards economically disadvantaged areas providing both job creation potential along ensuring inclusive development aligning well administration's targeted goals boosting private domestic manufacturing amidst achieving full clean transportation sector transition by leveraging consistent tracking data from entities like Rhodium Group alongside MIT CEEPR underlining commitment transforming economy sustainably equitably over foreseeable future ultimately solidifying country global leadership climate action domain unequivocally comprehensively adhering overarching objective reaching net-zero emission status optimistically envisioned blueprint decisively endorsed federal governance policymakers aligned stakeholders actively contributing realizing envisioned outcomes synergistically holistically envisaged comprehensive pragmatic systemic implementation roadmap 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