Biden administration approves $7.5B loan for EV battery plants in Indiana
A week after the Biden administration preliminarily approved a $6.6 billion loan to electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian Automotive, the White House is again giving billions in financial aid to the EV sector. This week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $7.5 billion loan commitment to support the construction of two EV battery manufacturing facilities in Kokomo, Indiana.
“DOE estimates the EVs produced using StarPlus batteries will displace the usage of 260.3 million gallons of petroleum per year –– helping to slash harmful pollutants that jeopardize public health and pollute local ecosystems,” the Energy Department said in a statement. “The project will greatly expand EV battery manufacturing capacity in North America and reduce America’s reliance on adversarial foreign nations like China, as well as other foreign sourcing of EV batteries.”
StarPlus Energy, a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung, is the company behind the project and the recipient of this funding, which marks the third-largest loan ever approved by the Department of Energy.
The Kokomo facilities are projected to produce enough batteries to power approximately 670,000 electric vehicles annually once both are fully operational.
The first plant is expected to begin production this month, with the second slated to open in 2028. The project is anticipated to create over 6,000 new jobs, including construction and operational roles –– a development praised by the United Auto Workers Union (UAW).
“We are excited to announce that Stellantis has finalized their employee leasing agreement at their joint venture battery plant with Samsung,” the UAW said in a statement. “This means over 1,000 new jobs for UAW members in Kokomo, at a time when Stellantis is trying to cut its way out of its own mismanagement.”
To close this loan, StarPlus Energy must meet various technical, legal, environmental and financial benchmarks. In total, the Department of Energy has now announced 32 deals worth over $54 billion in project investments under the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump’s proposed tariffs could violate his own trade deal with Canada and Mexico
Experts say President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to put 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada violates the trade agreement he negotiated during his first term. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short, fulfilled Trump’s 2015 campaign promise to terminate and replace NAFTA, America’s longstanding free-trade agreement with its neighbors.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post that on his first day as president, he’ll sign an executive order charging Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.
“This tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he posted.
“It is a violation of the USMCA. The U.S. just basically said, ‘Oops, we are going to impose these tariffs no matter what our treaty says,” said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics specializing in U.S. trade flows and U.S.-China trade.
Lovely said Trump could try to unilaterally impose these proposed tariffs using the Emergency Powers Act.
“This would be a very unusual and certainly provocative application of that Emergency Powers Act,” she told Straight Arrow News. “Surely, it will go to the courts, but that seems to be the only route that he could do it given U.S. trade law in general and in particular, the promises we made under USMCA.”
Trump has no problem busting up trade agreements. It was a cornerstone of his candidacy that led to his first term, just as tariffs are for his second.
“It’s a disaster,” Trump said of NAFTA on “60 Minutes” in 2015. “We will renegotiate it or we will break it, because every agreement has an end.”
Is this the end of USMCA? Some are speculating that there is more behind Trump’s day-one tariff threat than meets the eye.
This constant threatening has a cost. It’s not a freebie.
Mary Lovely, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Trump supporter and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman cast doubt in an X post that Trump would even implement the threatened tariffs.
“@realdonaldtrump is going to use tariffs as a weapon to achieve economic and political outcomes which are in the best interest of America, fulfilling his America first policy,” Ackman posted.
“Trump sees an opening to push China further out of America’s backyard,” international relations expert Andrew Law wrote in his publication, The Mexico Brief. “This is less a policy declaration than a move to stir up more trouble amongst bickering allies. The goal? To extract even more concessions from Mexico and Canada on China. He’s throwing a cat amongst the pigeons to watch what happens. It’ll probably work.”
“It is a threat, obviously, and threats do get people to do things sometimes,” Lovely said. “The problem is that every time he threatens a trading partner, particularly free-trade-agreement partners, the rest of the world loses trust in the U.S. as a partner.
“Supply chains start to go around the U.S. rather than through the U.S., and that makes it more difficult for the companies in the U.S. that export,” she continued. “It also makes it more difficult for global companies that are trying to arrange supply chains to serve the United States. So this constant threatening has a cost. It’s not a freebie.”
In conjunction with tariffs on America’s neighbors, Trump also announced an additional 10% tariff on China related to the fentanyl crisis.
If the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada do go through, the question is, what will be impacted the most?
“Autos has to be number one,” Lovely said. “The U.S. auto industry is fully integrated with the industries in Mexico and Canada, so much that we don’t think about it as three industries; it’s one integrated platform. Some vehicles are said to go back and cross the border more than seven times before they hit car lots.”
On news of the threat, Detroit’s Big Three automakers traded down on Tuesday morning, Nov. 26. Ford started the day trading down 3%, GM went as far as 8% down, and Chrysler-owner Stellantis went down about 5%.
Food could also be set for a huge sticker shock. The guacamole is always extra, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Mexico provides about 90% of the avocados eaten in the U.S. More than half of all U.S. fresh fruit imports come from Mexico. On the northern border, oil is the top import from Canada.
The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with China, Mexico and Canada as its top suppliers, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. is also the second-largest goods exporter after China. The top three recipients of U.S. exports are Canada, Mexico and China.
While the USMCA is not set to expire until 2036, there is a six-year review coming up in 2026. And China has more to do with North American trade than the acronym suggests.
“Many of us expect that the role of China in supply chains that serve the U.S. from Canada, but in particular, Mexico, would be on the table, would be an issue,” Lovely said. “Whether it is in this case I think is just speculation, since President-elect Trump said nothing about that in the social media post he made last night.”
GM, Samsung announce $3.5 billion plan to build Indiana EV battery plant
America’s largest automaker, General Motors, and Samsung SDI announced that they have finalized a $3.5 billion deal on Wednesday, Aug. 28, to build an electric vehicle battery plant in New Carlisle, Indiana. Among the products that will be at the plant beginning in 2027 are prismatic cells. As EV technology evolves, experts note that this technology may become more prevalent in the industry.
Currently, GM uses Ultium batteries in its electric vehicles. However, prismatic cells offer better performance because they have greater energy than Ultium batteries, which leads to better performance.
The prismatic cells are also reportedly safer because they operate at “lower voltages” and have “higher thermal stability.” Additionally, they’re considered more durable because they require fewer connections, which means less cleaning and welding is needed.
The new factory will reportedly create more than 1,600 jobs and be on a 680-acre site. GM and Samsung SDI will reportedly not have to pay taxes for 10 years in exchange for paying for several infrastructure projects in the community, which total $4.5 million.
The deal between GM and Samsung SDI comes at a time when some rival automakers are pulling back their investments into EVs. While EV sales are still growing, they’re not growing as fast as earlier predictions suggested.
New EV facilities are expected to pop up in the near future. They are spurred on by the Biden administration’s tax incentives.
Ford said it plans to up its production capacity at its three battery plants and Stellantis announced plans to build a new battery factory in Indiana. BMW has also said it expects to open a plant in South Carolina.
UAW president’s tough words against Stellantis at DNC may be a warning
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain went after Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Ram, at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday, Aug. 19. He claimed that the company is dragging its feet on a promise to restart an assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Fain warned that reneging on the deal could lead to a strike by UAW employees.
“Let me be clear,” Fain said. “Stellantis must keep the promises they made to America in our Union contract, and the UAW will take whatever action necessary at Stellantis or any other corporation to stand up and hold corporate America accountable.”
Stellantis responded on Tuesday, saying that it told the UAW it plans to delay the opening of the plant that sits just an hour northwest of Chicago. However, the company said it is standing by its commitment and that the union’s claims that it violated the contract are wrong. A spokesperson for the company said the current contract allows them to “modify product investments and employment levels.”
Fain argued that Stellantis is delaying the process of reopening the Illinois plant, so it never has to actually do so.
The union chief previously criticized Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares over threatening job cuts because of falling U.S. sales. Stellantis’ net profits reportedly fell by 48% during the first six months of 2024.
Stellantis current contract with the UAW runs until 2028. Fain credited Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden with helping to secure the agreement to reopen the plant in Belvedere on Monday at the DNC. The UAW won the reopening in contract talks last year after a six-week strike at multiple factories.
First all-electric Dodge Charger will retain its classic sound with noise simulator
Dodge has announced the upcoming launch for the first all-electric version of its Charger, known as the Charger Daytona. Set to arrive in dealerships later this year, this electric vehicle (EV) comes with a starting price of at least $61,590.
The Charger Daytona boasts 670 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just over three seconds, putting it on par with some of the most powerful gas-powered muscle cars on the market.
“The next-generation Dodge Charger electrifies a legend. The Charger will retain its title as the world’s quickest and most powerful muscle car” Dodge said in a statement. “The all-electric, all-wheel-drive Dodge Charger Daytona models are driven by a 400V propulsion system that delivers supercharged V-8 performance with zero tailpipe emissions and instant torque response.”
Despite its electric powertrain, the Daytona maintains a connection to its heritage with a feature designed to replicate the classic engine-revving sound of traditional Chargers. Dodge has equipped the Daytona with what it calls a “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust,” a system that artificially simulates the roar of a high-performance gas engine.
“The future of the Dodge brand launches with a two-model 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona two-door lineup that looks, drives, sounds and feels like a Dodge, outperforming the legendary models they replace and delivering the experience the Dodge Brotherhood of Muscle expects,” said Matt McAlear, the Dodge brand chief executive officer.
The company claims the sound closely resembles that of a Hellcat, one of its most powerful models. However, for drivers who prefer a quieter experience, the Daytona also includes a stealth mode option, allowing the car to operate with minimal noise like other EV models.
EPA mulls EV transition delay amid pushback from lawmakers, automakers
A bipartisan rally in Ohio on Thursday, Feb. 22, highlighted growing opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed emissions standards. These regulations aim to mandate that two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. be electric by 2032. However, the rules have drawn criticism from lawmakers and autoworkers who argue that the timeline is overly ambitious.
“It’ll be devastating for working class people because it’s going to cost them their jobs, it’s going to mandate that they buy electric vehicles, which are much more expensive and a lot less reliable for the things that they need to do to live and work every day,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. “You see that this is a bipartisan group of people who are saying no to the Biden administration’s EPA mandates that would mandate 67% of cars be electric by 2032, which means that industry has to start immediately changing.”
In addition to the demonstration in Ohio, over 130 members of Congress have penned a letter to President Joe Biden and EPA Director Michael Reagan, expressing concerns from both sides of the aisle about the feasibility of the emissions plan.
“We write to highlight the failures of this Administration’s hasty and costly transition to electric vehicles,” the group of lawmakers wrote. “This rule is contradictory to all conventional predictions about where the automobile industry is headed in the coming years, including this administration’s own Department of Energy.”
The congressional members contend that the proposed regulations are “unrealistic” and “absurd.” The letter argues this rule could have adverse effects on American families and businesses, while potentially increasing reliance on foreign markets, particularly China. The lawmakers also pointed to federal energy reports which predict that only one out of five new vehicles will be EVs by 2050.
Amid this pushback, reports indicate that the EPA is considering delaying the implementation of the emissions plan until after 2030 to allow automakers more time to comply. Under this revised timeline, regulations would ramp up sharply to achieve the goal of EVs comprising 67% of U.S. new car sales by 2032 and create roughly the same greenhouse gas reductions as the original proposal by 2055.
The initial plan, which would have begun impacting vehicles manufactured in 2027, prompted major automakers like Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors, along with the United Auto Workers union, to request a deadline extension.
However, environmental advocates argue that delaying the implementation of this intuitive comes with risks of its own.
Dan Becker, the director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Washington Post that waiting until 2030 will result in “more pollution, more sick kids, more global warming, [and] more oil use.”
Organizations like the Sierra Club have urged the EPA to move forward with its original plan, emphasizing the detrimental effects of air pollution on public health.
These groups say that over 137 million Americans, more than one-third of the nation’s population, are currently exposed to harmful levels of air pollution, which stricter emissions standards could help alleviate in the short term.
“We need strong clean car standards to deliver vital relief that the most highly impacted communities demand and deserve,” the Sierra Club wrote. “The United States is the world’s second largest country emitter, and transportation is the largest portion (29%) of total US greenhouse gas emissions.”
A decision on what these regulations will ultimately look like has not been made yet. The EPA’s final ruling on emissions regulations is expected by March at the earliest.
America’s 4 largest automakers forego Super Bowl ads for first time in decades
For the first time in 23 years, America’s four largest automakers are all skipping out on Super Bowl ads. There will be no promos featuring Ford, Toyota, General Motors or Chrysler during commercial breaks of the big game.
The move is a sharp turn from just a few years ago when a large chunk of commercials were bought up by automakers to promote electric vehicles (EVs). There are several reasons why people will be seeing fewer commercials like those this year.
Super Bowl commercial spots don’t come cheap. A 30-second slot is said to run about $7 million dollars, according to AdAge’s archive.
Super Bowl LVIII comes on the heels of the Big Three automakers suffering billions of dollars in losses from the United Autoworkers Union’s six-week strike last year for higher wages.
Auto companies are scrambling to cut costs, figuring out the future of their industry and whether an investment in EVs will eventually pay off. Right now, the transition is coming at a cost.
There have been high interest rates paired with slow consumer demand. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, Chrysler’s parent company, said the current challenges the market faces are the reason why the company won’t be creating clever ads for this year’s Super Bowl.
On Friday, Jan. 19, Tavares warned of an EV bloodbath if automakers are forced to slash prices because of the stagnant market.
“If you go and cut pricing disregarding the reality of your costs, you will have a bloodbath,” Tavares said at an Amsterdam event. “I am trying to avoid a race to the bottom.”
Looking at the auto industry, Tesla’s profitability took a 40% hit year-over-year after lowering prices to increase demand. Ford is slowing EV production and boosting gas vehicle output after admitting its EV line is losing billions of dollars.
GM had to stop selling its latest EV model due to software issues, laid off 1,300 workers in Michigan and is cutting EV production. Stellantis has also taken the route of layoffs to save costs and is closing factories.
While Ford, Toyota, GM and Chrysler decided to save and skip out on Super Bowl ad spending, there will still be other competing car companies featured in this year’s commercials. Foreign-owned companies like Kia and Volkswagen are set to display their latest EV models during Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11.
Media Miss: Unions won at least 10% wage increases for 900K workers in 2023
Union have been busy in 2023 as they have successfully negotiated wage increases of 10% or more for 900,000 workers across the U.S., according to a CNN analysis. Some deals resulted from high-profile strikes by auto workers and Hollywood actors and writers.
According to the Straight Arrow News Media Miss™ tool, this story is a Media Miss for the right. The Media Landscape indicates that while left-leaning and center-oriented outlets are covering this story, fewer – if any – right-leaning outlets are reporting on the topic.
We will continue to move mountains.
Shawn Fain, UAW President
On Monday, Nov. 20, the UAW announced that 64% of union members voted to ratify record-breaking deals with Detroit’s big three automakers. Those deals come after more than six weeks of walkouts by UAW members.
At its peak, 46,000 union members hit the picket line and cost the three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, a combined $4.2 billion in losses.
“With a united UAW that is more unified than I have seen in my 29 years, actually in my life, if we are not afraid to fight, we can win,” said Shawn Fain, UAW president. “And we will continue to move mountains.”
In the entertainment industry, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA virtually shut Hollywood production down this year as the groups negotiated for better pay and job protections.
While the 11,000 writers and 160,000 actors represented by the two unions didn’t reach 10% wage increases, there were major victories as a result of the strikes, including protections from AI.
Preliminary estimates reported by Reuters put the economic impact of the Hollywood strikes at more than $6 billion.
The economic impact of strikes in 2023 has been clearly illustrated. Meanwhile, several other unions have been able to strike deals by merely threatening to strike.
The Teamsters union struck an agreement with UPS covering nearly 350,000 workers, and the Culinary union reached a series of deals to avoid strikes at 18 casinos across the country.
Even non-union members, especially non-union auto workers, are reaping the benefits of powerful unions. Department of Labor data shows the average hourly wage in October was up 18% compared to just three years ago.
Straight Arrow News strives to provide unbiased, fact-based news in addition to offering a comprehensive look at how the media is covering stories that matter most. Learn more about the Media Miss™ tool and decide for yourself.
Range anxiety slows mass EV adoption as auto, oil companies look to help
For the first time ever, Tesla’s superchargers will be deployed on an independent electric vehicle (EV) charging network. Oil and gas giant BP is making a $100 million investment in the chargers, which it plans to roll out by as early as 2024.
The first of these chargers will be installed at locations in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., with more set to be announced. BP Pulse, the company’s EV charging business, has already installed upwards of 27,000 charge points globally to date, and intends to use this deal with Tesla to increase that total to 100,000 by 2030.
“Strengthening the BP Pulse network with Tesla’s industry-leading hardware is a major step forward in our ambitions for high speed, open-access charging infrastructure in the U.S. and advances our ambition to delivering an exceptional customer experience,” said Richard Bartlett, global CEO of BP Pulse. “Combined with our vast network of convenience and mobility sites on and off the highway, this collaboration with Tesla will bring fast and reliable charging to EV drivers when and where they need it.”
With its goal of building more charging infrastructure in mind, over these next six years, BP also intends to invest up to $1 billion in EV chargers across the United States. The first $500 million of that figure is expected to be spent during the next two to three years. In 2019, charging infrastructure made up just 3% of BP’s total investments, but last year, it accounted for nearly a third of the money spent by the company.
“If battery electric vehicles do prove to be the major means of light passenger vehicle transportation moving forward, the core business model for the oil majors of providing gasoline to these vehicles is going to struggle,” said Graham Evans, director of auto supply chain and technology at S&P Global Mobility. “And therefore how do they replace that? By providing EV charging.”
The move to increase spending on EV chargers comes after a number of automakers made a similar decision over the summer. BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are planning to jointly invest at least $1 billion to build a North American EV charging network. Before the end of the decade, this venture aims to install 30,000 new fast charging ports, a number nearly equivalent to the total number of fast chargers currently available in the U.S. and Canada.
“The creation of EV charging services is an opportunity for automakers to produce excellent user experiences by providing complete, convenient and sustainable solutions for our customers,” says Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe. “Toward that objective, this joint venture will be a critical step in accelerating EV adoption across the U.S. and Canada and supporting our efforts to achieve carbon neutrality.”
These initiatives are underway amid data from consumers that cite concerns about charger reliability, speed, and abundance as being among the biggest hurdles mass EV adoption faces. A poll by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this year found that nearly 80% of the public said thecurrent state of charging infrastructure is a primary reason for not buying an EV.
“Concerns about the country’s charging infrastructure are barriers to more people driving [EVs],” said Jennifer Benz, deputy director of The AP-NORC Center. “Policies that alleviate these concerns will be a key component of building support for an EV future.”
Meanwhile, Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the company expects to see “mass consumers with a lot of charging anxiety.” To combat these concerns, Ford announced this week that the company’s own deal with Tesla to utilize is superchargers, which was originally slated for 12,000 ports, will now increase the terms to 15,000.
“A critical focus on reliable fast charging remains a top priority to provide the best possible electric driving experience for our customers,” said Bill Crider, senior director of global charging and energy services at Ford. “With the addition of the Tesla Supercharger Network along with new fast chargers coming to Ford Model e dealerships in 2024, we are working hard to make range anxiety a thing of the past for Ford all-electric drivers.”
The deal, which still needs to be voted on by 43,000 union members, mirrors an agreement between Ford and the union and includes a 25% pay increase over the next 4 1/2 years, including an 11% increase as soon as the deal is ratified.
The union said the tentative agreement not only saves 5,000 jobs Stellantis was planning to cut, but also adds 5,000 jobs. According to the union, the deal saves jobs at a plant in Belvidere, Illinois that Stellantis had planned on closing.
“Stellantis more than doubled the total value of the proposals they had on the table.”
UAW President Shawn Fain
UAW President Shawn Fain announced the tentative deal on social media on Saturday, Oct. 28.
“Once again, we have achieved what just weeks ago we were told was impossible. The power of the ‘Stand-Up Strike” cannot be understated,” Fain said. “Over the 44 days we were on strike, Stellantis more than doubled the total value of the proposals they had on the table.”
The agreement, if ratified, would run through April 30, 2028. According to UAW Vice President Rich Boyer, the union won $19 billion worth of investments across the U.S.
Hours after the Stellantis agreement, the union expanded its strike against General Motors, added a walkout at a Tennessee plant. The expansion brought the total number of GM workers on strike to roughly 18,000.
The deal with GM, yet to be ratified, includes 25% wage increases, like that of the other two tentative deals.
President Biden weighed in on the tentative agreement between the union and Stellantis on social media saying, “It’s a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs and help our nation’s most iconic companies thrive.”
The strikes have cost the Detroit Big Three automakers billions of dollars in lost production. On Thursday, Oct. 26, Ford declared that it alone lost $1.3 billion due to the strikes, and the new deal, if ratified, will cost the company an additional $850 to $900 in labor costs for every vehicle produced.