Hi, what are you looking for?
Polysilicon Glut & Cheaper Solar Panels?
Floating “Artificial Leaves” Produce Clean Fuel
Solar & Storage Industry Charts Course For U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance Thanks To Inflation Reduction Act
Renewables to Equal 22% of U.S. Electricity Generation in 2022 — U.S. EIA Forecast
Peaking — A Theory of Rapid Transition
Virginia Offshore Wind Project Could Power 600,000 Homes, Create Over 1,000 Jobs
How Wind Energy Can Help Us Breathe Easier
U.S. Department Of Energy Finds Record Production & Job Growth In U.S. Wind Power Sector
Renewables to Equal 22% of U.S. Electricity Generation in 2022 — U.S. EIA Forecast
Peaking — A Theory of Rapid Transition
Decarbonizing Data Centers — It’s Fun!
Most Renewables Now Cheaper Than Cheapest Coal
Kenya Elections: Electric Mobility, Utility Scale Battery Storage, Energy Efficiency & Green Hydrogen Feature Prominently
More Electricity from Wind & Solar than Nuclear for 1st Time in USA
Funding Notice: Community Geothermal Heating & Cooling Design & Deployment
3 Barriers to Large-Scale Energy Storage Deployment
Cummins Calls Dibs On New Long Duration Energy Storage Iron Salt Formula
The Faraday Institution & NREL Sign MOU In Support of US & UK Joint Battery Research
A 100 Percent Renewable Electricity Calculator for the United States
New Tesla LFP Megapack Is Big — Really Big! (With Video)
Comparing The US & China On Climate, Economy, & Other Outcomes Should Be Deeply Humbling For America
San Diego Electric School Bus Puts Electricity Into The Grid
Can Virtual Power Plants Provide Revenue for Householders?
ERCOT & Tesla: How Virtual Power Plants Can Help Texas Electricity Grid & Save Lives
Energy Security at the Edge of the Grid
New Jersey is Ready for 100% Clean Electricity & Buildings
A Guide To Fuel Efficient Driving — Part Three (2022 Update)
New Heat Pumps For Old Apartments
Our Water Heaters Could Help Save the Wilderness
Heat Pumps Proved Themselves During A Harsh Maine Winter
Australian Financial Institutions Join the rEVolution
Tesla Mosaic with Thousands of Customer Images & Data on Time Capsules is Now Traveling in Space for Eternity
Volkswagen — ID. Buzz Sales Surge, Norway All EV By 2024
EV Owners Enjoy Cost Savings, Reliability, Range, & More — Maine Survey
Tesla Production Update: 1 Million from Giga Shanghai, 3 Million Total, Australia & New Zealand Get Model Y Deliveries
This Go-Anywhere, Eye-Catching E-Bike Is A Honey
Ford F-150 Lightning — CleanTechnica Review
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Maintenance Cost Update at 3 Years & 27,000 Miles
75,000 Miles With My Tesla Model 3: Maintenance Costs, FSD (Beta), Hauling, Etc.
Putting The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Power Station To A Hard Test
22% Of New Car Sales Now Electric In The Netherlands!
Germany’s EV Share Cold Comfort Against 34% Shortfall In Overall Auto Market
UK Plugin EV Share Shrinks In July, BEVs Still Growing
French New Auto Sales Crash 37%, BEVs Still Growing
Norway’s Plugin Market Share Drops, BEVs Still Growing
This Go-Anywhere, Eye-Catching E-Bike Is A Honey
Ford F-150 Lightning — CleanTechnica Review
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Maintenance Cost Update at 3 Years & 27,000 Miles
75,000 Miles With My Tesla Model 3: Maintenance Costs, FSD (Beta), Hauling, Etc.
Putting The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Power Station To A Hard Test
Ford F-150 Lightning — CleanTechnica Review
Tesla Q4 Shareholder Conference Call — Watch & Listen Here
Volkswagen Group — In-Depth Conference Call Highlights Company’s Focus On Transition
Bill McKibben On Unions, Tesla, & Elon Musk — CleanTechnica Interview
How To Watch & Listen To Tesla Q3 Earnings Call — Most Useful Livestream
CATL may be the world’s largest manufacturer of battery cells for electric cars but that doesn’t mean it can build a US factory.
CATL is the largest battery cell manufacturer in the world, but it has no manufacturing presence in North America. You might think that would be a minor problem except the US currently is turning a cold shoulder to Chinese manufacturers as the federal government struggles to create local suppliers for things like battery cells, computer chips, and other goods and services needed by the manufacturing sector.
Currently, almost everything America needs to keep its economy humming comes from other countries, thanks to decades of hunting the cheapest possible labor costs as part of the grand neoliberal globalization push. The other part of the story is that the Chinese government expects every Chinese corporation to act as an instrument of national policy by funneling everything it discovers about technological advances while doing business abroad back to its political masters in Beijing. No wonder many are skittish about having a Chinese corporation operating in their backyard.
To be in a position to supply battery cells to US manufacturers like Tesla and Ford while avoiding unfavorable US policies, South China Morning Post reports CATL is considering building a new battery factory in Mexico near the border with the United States. That way it could do business in the US without physically being in the US, thanks to NAFTA. Mexico already has a large and growing auto industry for many of the same reasons.
SCMP reports that CATL is considering a $5 billion factory either in Ciudad Juarez or Saltillo, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Both are near the Texas border. Ciudad Juarez is attractive in part because it’s close to the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa port of entry into the US state of New Mexico. That would provide a route around the border crossings of Texas, which is the home of Tesla’s new factory.
Texans can thank Texas governor Greg Abbott for that, after he went full Chris Christie and blocked virtually all trucks coming into Texas to score political points with his base of foaming at the mouth rabid reactionaries, a grandstanding move that may have cost the Texas economy as much as $4 billion. CATL wants no part of such shenanigans.
CATL is also considering splitting its investment across two locations — one in the US and one in Mexico, sources tell SCMP. A final decision hasn’t been made and the total size of the investment is fluid. Bloomberg reported in March that a new CATL factory could have an annual capacity of 80 gigawatt-hours worth of batteries.
CATL has been contemplating a battery plant in the US for years, but rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China have complicated the effort. It’s also under competitive pressure to come to a decision as rivals like LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and Panasonic enter into contracts to build battery factories of their own in the US.
A CATL factory would be welcome in Mexico, which is anxious to cement its position as a major part of the auto industry’s supply chain, particularly as it relates to the manufacture of electric vehicles. CATL could also opt to manufacture battery cells in Mexico and then ship them to Kentucky to be assembled into battery packs.
In 2020, it purchased a former RR Donnelley & Sons printing plant in Glasgow, Kentucky, and formed a subsidiary in the state, documents show. In April 2021, it hired Charles Huang, a manufacturing executive, to be chief executive officer of the project. According to his LinkedIn page, Huang’s mandate is to “establish corporate structure and strategy for CATL manufacturing project in North America.” A spokesman for the Kentucky office of economic development declined a request for comment.
An indication of the headwinds that Chinese companies face when doing business in the United States, earlier this year, BYD was excluded from federal incentive programs solely because it was a Chinese company and despite the fact that it was manufacturing electric buses and trucks in America with unionized American workers and using mostly US-sourced parts.
Politics is a strange game and CATL is rightly concerned it could get its fingers burned if it decides to seek entry into US manufacturing, something it is reluctant to do when it is putting up $5 billion of its own money. A decision on where — or even if — to build a battery factory serving the North American market is expected shortly.
Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Florida or anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. You can follow him on Twitter but not on any social media platforms run by evil overlords like Facebook.
#1 most loved electric vehicle, solar energy, and battery news & analysis site in the world. Support our work today!
Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.
CATL has announced a major new investment in a European battery factory to be located in the city of Debrecen in Hungary.
EV incentives in the new Inflation Reduction Act are causing a lot of controversy on Capitol Hill with automakers asking for more time to...
Svolt Energy says it has cracked the code to making solid-state sulfide batteries that promise long life and long range.
Tesla now has a dedicated lane at the border between the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon and the US state of Texas.
Copyright © 2021 CleanTechnica. The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by and do not necessarily represent the views of CleanTechnica, its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.