Money is flooding U.S. battery factories, but most will be joint ventures between global automakers and Asian battery manufacturing giants.
Last Summer, the Biden administration announced a financial commitment to a U.S.-based battery manufacturer building battery cells to serve various end markets, ranging from EVs to EV-charging support and grid storage.
Biden To Give $850 Million to a Chinese-Owned Battery Companyhttps://t.co/FtA2E7KTxi
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) February 28, 2024
Kore Power, an Idaho-based company that makes lithium-ion battery cells in China, has won a conditional commitment from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office for an $850 million loan to help build its first major U.S. manufacturing facility in Arizona.
“The administration is taking advantage of the resources we provided through the Inflation Reduction Act not just to boost jobs in Arizona but also to strengthen our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign sources of battery components for everything from electric vehicles to energy storage,” said Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
Additionally, in August 2023, the company behind a controversial Michigan electric vehicle battery plant quietly appeared as a Chinese foreign principal in an under-the-radar registration.
Gotion Inc., a Fremont, California-based energy company, faced uproar from Republican politicians and residents in the state over potential Chinese Communist Party influence concerns since it first unveiled plans to construct the multi-billion dollar facility with the support of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). Gotion Inc.’s parent company, Gotion High-Tech, is headquartered in Hefei City, China.
Chuck Thelen, Gotion’s North American manufacturing vice president, attempted to alleviate worries and stated that CCP concerns are overblown. “The rumors that you’ve heard about us bringing communism to North America are just flat-out fear-mongering and have nothing based in reality.”
On April 21, Gotion Inc. was quietly registered as a Chinese foreign principal, according to FARA filings, which appears to have gone previously unreported. The U.S. subsidiary’s document declares that it is “wholly owned and controlled” by the China-based Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co., Ltd.
Since then, Republican lawmakers, residents, and national security experts have raised concerns about Gotion’s Chinese ownership and ties to the CCP. The corporate bylaws of Gotion High-Tech require the company to “carry out Party activities per the Constitution of the Communist Party of China.”
