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Not happy jan

US Senator blasts Ford’s battery deal with China’s CATL

US Senator Joe Manchinsaid on Friday he is “totally opposed” to allowing Chinese battery maker CATLto access US tax dollars that finance electric vehicle purchases as part of itspartnership with Ford Motor Co.

The blunt statementsfrom Manchin, who wrote the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in a bid to develop adomestic EV battery industry, come amid rising tension over how the landmarklegislation is implemented and who can benefit.

Under the IRA, consumers can receive$7,500 in tax credits for purchasing an EV, although the new law also allowsthe rebate to be kept by the company involved if the vehicle is leased. A 12%royalty that is included in the Ford-CATL partnership would send $900 of the$7,500 tax credit to CATL, Manchin told the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

“I’llbe damned if I’m going to give them $900 out of $7,500, to let it go to Chinafor basically a product we started,” said Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat whochairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Inresponse to Manchin’s comments, Ford defended the CATL deal and said it willown the US facility making the battery and no one else will get US tax dollars.“Making these batteries here at home is much better than continuing to relyexclusively on foreign imports, like other auto companies do,” said a companyspokesperson.

CATL’sadvanced and low-cost batteries could be reverse-engineered, Manchin said,arguing the technology may have originated in the United States. Manchin addedhe has talked extensively with Ford executives as well as Jon Huntsman, amember of Ford’s board of directors and former US ambassador to China, aboutthe CATL deal.

“You’retelling me we don’t have the smart people and the technology, and we can’t getup to speed quick enough? That doesn’t make sense,” said Manchin, who did notspecify what steps he might take to block CATL from accessing funds.

It wasthe first time that Manchin raised an objection to the Ford-CATL licensingagreement.

Ford’sagreement with CATL is part of the US automaker’s stated intent to boost annualEV production to 600,000 vehicles by late 2023 and more than 2 million by theend of 2026.

USSenator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, introduced legislation on Thursdaythat would block tax credits for EV batteries produced using Chinesetechnology. Rubio has also called for the Biden administration to review theFord-CATL agreement.