U.S. Department of Energy to advance the production of affordable EVs
Leveraging funding support from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has been awarded $44.8 million to fund eight projects geared towards developing technologies that will reduce the cost of recycling electric drive vehicle batteries and electric drive vehicle battery components, with the long-term aim of producing cost-effective elective vehicles.
The eight projects which will be selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office serve to promote research and development in recycling batteries once used to power EVs. What’s more, the projects promise to give insights into the second-life applications of EV batteries.
The funds will be shared by the Vehicles Technologies Office among a host of companies and corporations to enhance the transportation ecosystem as well as dismantling and pre-processing of electric drive vehicle batteries. The corporations that will take up this responsibility include B2U Storage Solutions, Inc. which will use about $3.5 million to design, fabricate, test, and demonstrate a low-cost, reusable, stackable, fire-resistant, compliant, and real-time monitored system for transporting second-life and defective, damaged, or recycled EV batteries.
In another project, Caterpillar Inc. will use approximately $5 million to develop a new or improved battery pack design for off-highway (non-light duty) vehicle batteries. Other organisations include Rochester Institute of Technology and Siemens Corporation, Technology, which will each utilise about $7 million to develop technologies geared towards EV batteries’ automatic dismantling. At the same time, Tennessee Technological University, General Motors LLC and ReJoule Incorporated will use $4.8 million, $7.9 million and $6.3 million respectively to research and develop technologies that are focused on end-of-life EV batteries.
The Vehicles Technologies Office also plans to increase the recycling of electric drive vehicle battery accessory components and the University of Akron will take up this responsibility with $2 million in funding to eliminate the flow of plastics/polymers from end-of-life EV battery packs to landfills and fulfil the objective.
“The United States is securing a resilient domestic battery supply chain, thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments in innovation and battery recycling efforts,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Finding new life for used batteries will significantly reduce pollution and our reliance on other nations, while lowering costs and supporting the clean energy transition.”
These projects will build upon the strides the Biden-Harris administration has been making to support and provide clean energy in the United States. For instance, under the administration’s watch, about $92 million has been previously allotted to fund projects that will advance EV battery recycling and expand equitable deployment, including the funding of 25 projects for the production of batteries and battery materials. Recently, Moment Energy was awarded about $20 million to initiate a UL 1974-certified manufacturing facility for EV battery reuse.
All these projects benefit from the Justice40 Initiative, which is aimed at gaining economic benefits in federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas to help improve the life conditions of disadvantaged communities.
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