Tracking the EV battery factory construction boom across North America

A wave of automakers and battery makers — foreign and domestic — have pledged to produce North American–made batteries before 2030.
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The onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs started as a trickle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then it turned into a tsunami.

In 2019, just two battery factories were operating in the United States with another two under construction. Today there are about 34 battery factories either planned, under construction or operational in the country.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law August 16, 2022, might not have been the initial catalyst behind the onshoring battery factory trend. But it did help open the spigot and accelerate the pace of factory projects — not to mention sparking a climate tech arms race with the EU. Two years later, we’re still tracking the fallout.

China has long controlled the supply and manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. The country’s grip on that supply chain began to loosen after automakers, hesitant to repeat the chip shortage crisis that hampered manufacturing during the pandemic, began promising to build EVs and batteries closer to home in 2021.

What has followed is a wave of automakers and battery makers — foreign and domestic — pledging to produce North American–made batteries before 2030. (See each automaker’s plans here and battery maker’s plans here.)

Why so much investment into onshoring EV battery production? One reason is because the IRA is rife with incentives for automakers and consumers to produce domestically — a concerted effort to end the U.S.’s reliance on China for batteries, while simultaneously meeting Biden’s goal to make 50% of all new vehicle sales in the U.S. electric or hybrid by 2030. Vehicles can qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit if they meet certain battery sourcing and production guidelines.

The IRA requires that 60% of the value of battery components be produced or assembled in North America in 2024 to qualify for half of the tax credit, $3,750. That percentage will increase to 100% starting in 2029. To get the remaining half, 50% of the value of critical materials must be sourced from the U.S. or a free trade agreement country in 2024. That percentage increases to 60%, 70% and 80% for vehicles produced in 2025, 2026 and 2027 and beyond, respectively.

The IRA also includes advanced manufacturing credits that give the producer a payout from the Treasury. Under Section 45X, the production of battery cells qualify for a credit of $35 per kilowatt-hour of capacity, and the production of battery modules qualify for $10 per kilowatt-hour. (Battery cells are containers that chemically store energy, and they are arranged into modules. Battery packs can be made up of cells or modules.)

Companies can also be reimbursed 10% of the costs incurred due to the production of electrode active materials, like the cathode and anode. The cathode stores lithium when a battery is discharged, and the anode stores lithium when a battery is charging. They are both components of a cell, and can contain materials like graphite, silicon, zinc, aluminum, magnesium, nickel and cobalt.

Automakers and battery manufacturers have collectively invested and promised to invest around $112 billionin building domestic cell and module manufacturing.Together, these companies promise to deliver an annual capacity of close to 1,200 gigawatt-hours before 2030, if each factory reaches maximum capacity. That’s roughly enough batteries for 18 million EVs, based on previous Tesla predictions that say about 100 GWh capacity can power around 1.5 million EVs.

Outside of the battery sector, the IRA has helped fuel a total $245 billion in private investment into clean energy and technology manufacturing, according to Atlas Public Policy’s Clean Economy Tracker.

The investment into producing batteries in the U.S. and Canada changes regularly, so we’ve started tracking these promises.

TechCrunch created a handy map showing the location of each battery factory plus some basic information, including planned capacity. For those looking for more details and context, scroll down to read about each manufacturer’s planned or operational battery factories. Or click on a location on the map for a pop-up to appear.

Note: The factories included below are producing or will produce battery cells and modules. We did not include things like battery materials production. Therefore, it is not an exhaustive list of all of the production going into creating EV batteries in North America.

Where are the EV batteries being produced in North America?

A map tracking automaker and battery maker investment into battery cell and module production for electric vehicles. Hover over the green dots for a pop-up with more information about each factory.

This article was originally published August 16, 2023 and was last updated July 20, 2024.

In October 2022, BMW announced a $1.7 billion investment in the U.S. that would see its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant readied for the production of EVs. Of the total funding, $700 million was allocated to the buildout of a battery assembly facility in nearby Woodruff. The automaker told TechCrunch that the start of production is scheduled for the end of 2026, but it hasn’t confirmed which EVs will be produced there. BMW’s Spartanburg factory is currently where its sports utility and crossovers are built, including the X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and XM.

BMW also partnered up with battery maker AESC (formerly Envision AESC) to invest additional funds in a battery cell plant in Florence, South Carolina (more on that in the AESC section). The AESC plant will produce BMW’s new sixth-generation round lithium-ion battery cells for Plant Spartanburg EVs. Groundbreaking on both the Woodruff and Florence facilities occurred in June.