March 29 -- The Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), seeks public comment by April 14, 2021 on its Request for Information (RFI) regarding the Risks in the High-Capacity Batteries, including Electric Vehicle Batteries Supply Chain.
On February 24, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive order on ‘‘America’s Supply Chains,’’ which directs several Federal agency actions to secure and strengthen America’s supply chains. One of these directions is for the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary), to submit, within 100 days and in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies, a report to the President identifying risks in the high-capacity batteries, including electric-vehicle batteries, supply chain and policy recommendations to address these risks.
The purpose of this RFI is to solicit information from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders directed to the policy objectives listed in E.O. 14017 as they affect the supply chain for high‐capacity batteries, including electric vehicle batteries. The Department is particularly interested in information directed to the policy objectives listed in E.O. 14017 as they affect the supply chain for high-capacity batteries, including electric vehicle batteries, including but not limited to the following elements:
(i) Critical materials including battery grade nickel, cobalt and lithium, underlying the supply chain for high-capacity batteries, including electric vehicle batteries;
(ii) Manufacturing and other capabilities necessary to produce high-capacity batteries, including extraction of raw materials, refining, production of advanced cathode and anode powders, separators, electrolytes, current collectors and advanced recycling technologies for high-capacity batteries;
(iii) The availability of the key skill sets and personnel necessary to sustain a competitive U.S. high-capacity batteries ecosystem, including the domestic education and manufacturing workforce skills needed for high-capacity battery manufacturing; the skills gaps therein, and any opportunities to meet future workforce needs;
(iv) Risks or contingencies that may disrupt the high-capacity batteries supply chain (including defense, intelligence, cyber, homeland security, health, climate, environmental, natural, market, economic, geopolitical, human-rights or forced labor risks):
(a) Risks resulting from lack of or failure to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities, including emerging capabilities;
(v) The resilience and capacity of the high-capacity battery supply chain to support national and economic security and emergency preparedness, including:
(a) Manufacturing, recycling, or other needed capacities (including ability to modernize to meet future needs);
(b) Gaps in manufacturing capabilities, including nonexistent, threatened, or single-point-of-failure capabilities, or single or dual suppliers;
(c) Location of key manufacturing and production assets, and risks posed by these assets' physical location;
(d) Exclusive or dominant supply of critical or essential goods and materials by or through nations that are, or may become, unfriendly or unstable;
(e) Availability of substitutes or alternative sources for critical or essential goods and materials;
(f) Need for research and development capacity to sustain leadership in the development of goods and materials critical or essential to high-capacity battery manufacturing;
(g) Current domestic education and manufacturing workforce skills and any identified gaps, opportunities and potential best practices;
(h) Role of transportation systems in supporting the high-capacity battery supply chain and risks associated with these transportation systems;
(i) Risks posed by climate change to the availability, production, or transportation of goods and materials critical to high-capacity manufacturing;
(vi) Potential impact of the failure to sustain or develop elements of the high-capacity supply chain in the United States on other key downstream capabilities. Also, the potential impact of purchases of high-capacity batteries products by downstream customers, including volume and price, product generation and alternate inputs.
(vii) Policy recommendations or suggested executive, legislative, regulatory changes, or actions to ensure a resilient supply chain for high-capacity batteries (e.g., reshoring, nearshoring, or developing domestic suppliers, cooperation with allies to identify or develop alternative supply chains, building redundancy into supply chains, ways to address risks due to vulnerabilities in digital products or climate change).
(viii) Any additional comments relevant to the assessment of the high-capacity batteries manufacturing and advanced packing supply chains required by E.O. 14017.
DE-FOA-0002502: NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON RISKS IN THE HIGH-CAPACITY BATTERIES, INCLUDING ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES SUPPLY CHAIN:
https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId67bbe654-1d67-4f43-ad31-55582e12e025
FR Request for Information:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/29/2021-06337/notice-of-request-for-information-rfi-on-risks-in-the-high-capacity-batteries-including-electric
Executive Order 14017 (February 24, 2021) America's Supply Chains
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/01/2021-04280/americas-supply-chains