Highlight
- Both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) registrations were up in 2021, as the vehicle sales market has fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to show strength. However, chip and battery shortages arose during the pandemic, which could impact future EV adoption but did not impact new registrations in 2021. The BEV share is the highest it has ever been at 9.5 percent of new vehicle registrations, up from the previous peak of 6.2 percent in 2020. Additionally, new registrations of PHEVs also reached the highest level so far, accounting for 3.3 percent of new registrations in 2021.
Opportunity
- In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it had selected 20 companies to receive a combined total of $2.8 billion for projects that expand domestic battery manufacturing for electric vehicles. The DOE estimates this funding will support the development of enough lithium for two million EVs annually. It is the first phase of a $7 billion investment included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and this should help ease supply chain constraints, especially since many of these materials are produced abroad.94
94 Walton, Robert. “DOE taps 20 companies to receive $2.8B for battery manufacturing, minerals processing build-out.” Utility Dive. October 20, 2022. Available at: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-battery-manufacturing-minerals-processing-award/634562/
More About
Transportation
Related Content