Southfield consortium gets $60M from feds for EV battery R&D

Washington ― The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday said the Southfield-based U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium LLC would receive $60 million in federal funding for research and development focused on electric-vehicle batteries to boost performance and those made from domestically available battery materials.

The consortium is a subsidiary of the United States Council for Automotive Research LLC, which is a collaborative company among Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV for cooperative research and development in the domestic auto industry.

The grant announced Thursday was among $131 million slated for projects that the agency said would advance research and development for EV batteries and charging systems.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is helping drive forward the innovation and research needed to provide clean, cheap and accessible transportation solutions for all Americans,” Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk said in a statement.

“The investments announced today will supercharge the development of a convenient and reliable EV network, and expand the domestic battery supply chain — securing our nation’s energy independence and spurring economic opportunity."

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granhom told reporters that researchers would use the funding to increase EV range, lower the cost of batteries and explore "innovative" charging systems, including bi-directional charging.

Her department is also awarding $46.5 million from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law to make it easier for working-class Americans to charge their EVs, funding 30 projects in rural and urban and tribal areas, Granholm said.

"Some of these make charging accessible to underserved communities and families who live in multifamily housing," she said. "Other projects help researchers develop EV charging solutions for extreme heat and frigid cold, so there's never a doubt that you can get where you need to go."

The Energy and Commerce departments also proposed new definitions Friday that officials said would expand availability of the IRS's tax credit for EV charging stations to approximately two-thirds of Americans.

This provision provides a credit for up to 30% of the cost of a qualified charging station for individuals and businesses in low-income communities and non-urban areas, with the goal of making it easier to install EV charging infrastructure, officials said.

The Federal Highway Administration on Thursday also awarded nearly $150 million to 24 grant recipients in 20 states including Michigan to repair or replace nearly 4,500 existing EV charging ports that are broken, glitching, non-operational or need to be brought up to code, officials said.

The money awarded comes from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program created under the bipartisan infrastructure bill. President Joe Biden has previously said he wants to bring online at least 500,000 public EV chargers online by 2030.

In Michigan, the state Department of Transportation will get $1.8 million to repair an estimated 170 ports and the City of Imlay will get about $13,000 to repair two ports, according to FHWA.

"Charging your electric vehicle should be as easy and convenient as filling up a gas tank — and these grants will help do that by making our EV charging network more reliable,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in a statement.

“We’re building a bigger and better EV charging network to keep up with driver demand, and we’re also ensuring the existing network works when you need a charge.”

mburke@detroitnews.com