Oh Well!! Worries Grow On Future Of EV/Battery Plants In States Voting For Someone Who Has Vowed To Destroy IRA, EVs

[hatrack]

EDIT

As the battery belt has grown, some House Republicans have expressed conditional support for the IRA. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) himself has said he wants to use a “scalpel, not a sledgehammer” when approaching the IRA. In a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee held just after Trump’s 2025 inauguration, Republicans from Georgia to Michigan backed the bill. “I ask that you proceed with caution when addressing provisions” that have created “thousands of jobs both throughout my district and across the country,” Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) said. “Upending these incentives could have severe economic consequences if not approached thoughtfully.”

The same day as the Ways and Means meeting, Rep. Houchin released a statement praising Trump for “making good on his promises to restore this country,” adding that the “executive orders issued on Day One” — which included the order aggressively attacking electric vehicles — “are common sense and have seen widespread support.”

How much of the IRA will Republicans actually scrap — at Trump’s urging and, in many districts, against their constituents’ own interests? Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) voted against the IRA but is now fighting to protect its provisions that boosted wind energy and the biofuel industry in his Nebraska district and throughout the state. (He says his opposition to the IRA was primarily rooted in its expansion of the IRS.) “I know a lot of Republican businessmen that have invested millions of dollars” in clean energy, he says. “You can’t withdraw these tax credits once people are already invested. These tax incentives are creating jobs. That’s a good thing.”

When we speak in early February, Rep. Bacon had just gotten out of a series of hours-long meetings with Congressional Republicans and Trump in part about the IRA. “Some guys are hard of hearing. They keep saying let’s gut the IRA. I said, ‘Dudes — no. Let’s come to reality. You’re not getting the support.’”

EDIT

https://www.levernews.com/the-red-state-workers-caught-in-trumps-ev-battle/

[Walleye]

1. Republican: "could have severe economic consequences if not approached thoughtfully"

Ya think?

[MichMan]

2. GM to Exit Michigan EV Battery Plant

General Motors is backing out of a nearly completed electric-vehicle battery plant in Michigan, agreeing to unload its stake in the new plant to its Korean partner, LG Energy Solution.

Plans for the $2.6 billion facility, sprawling over about 30 football fields in Lansing, Mich., were disclosed in 2022, when the Detroit automaker had designs on producing one million EVs by 2025. The automaker has since shelved that target because of slower-than-expected demand for fully electric vehicles.

Automakers globally have been dialing back electric-car investments they outlined earlier this decade amid surging demand for battery-powered vehicles. Now the market faces further uncertainty as President-elect Donald Trump vows to cut government funding for EVs.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/gm-to-exit-michigan-ev-battery-plant/ar-AA1v99pH

[MichMan]

3. EV Battery Maker Closing 2 Michigan Factories Won't Have To Return $900,000 Strategic Fund Investment

LANSING – A Michigan electric vehicle battery manufacturer will not face financial penalties for moving production out of state. The company told the state earlier this month it planned to close two EV plants and lay off nearly 200 workers.

Akasol received $900,000 from the Michigan Strategic Fund to establish its metro Detroit presence nearly six years ago, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MLive reported.

The MSF in June 2019 approved Akasol for a $2.24 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant for a proposed $40 million manufacturing facility in metro Detroit that would have created 224 jobs.

That agreement, however, was amended down to $900,000 as the company reduced its plan to 90 jobs.
Akasol met the hiring requirements and retained those jobs through the duration of the agreement as of June 2023, so the company will face no clawback provisions for moving production out of state, MEDC Communications Manager Otie McKinley wrote in an email.

https://mitechnews.com/featured/ev-battery-maker-closing-2-michigan-factories-wont-have-to-return-900000-strategic-fund-investment/

[Scrivener7]

4. Hey, Michigan! How's that vote for Mump working out for you?