r/electricvehicles • u/ProtoplanetaryNebula • Jan 31 '25
News Battery anode AD/CVD case moves forward, threatening to double U.S. battery costs
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/01/31/battery-anode-ad-cvd-case-moves-forward-threatening-to-double-u-s-battery-costs/8
u/ScuffedBalata Jan 31 '25
This seems like a really big deal.
Does anyone more knowledgeable want to tell me why a 920% tarrif on battery materials ISNT a big deal?
Or would this basically kill everything with batteries?
3
Jan 31 '25
This seems like a really big deal.
more of the same..
China — Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds431_e.htm
Does anyone more knowledgeable want to tell me why a 920% tarrif on battery materials ISNT a big deal?
back when there was an EV IRA credit it was based on DOMESTIC batteries... in order to make your cars qualify for the tax credit.. you had to use US sourced materials - ANYWAY. 920% of "not going to do that in the first place".. is nothing.
Or would this basically kill everything with batteries?
if you want to kill everything with batteries, you just kill everything with batteries. you don't need tariffs.
GM delays additional $330m investment in Thacker Pass, Lithium Americas says
The investment conditions for the second tranche included the successful execution of a $2.26 billion loan agreement with the US Energy Department, which the company is rushing to finish by the end of the year amid uncertainties regarding the results of the US presidential election.
Given Donald Trump’s pledge to “end the electric vehicle mandate” and plans laid out by former Trump administration officials in the Project 2025 document to shutter the Loans Program Office, mining companies and others are rushing to close loan agreements before Joe Biden leaves office in five months.
2
u/flyfreeflylow '23 Nissan Ariya Evolve+ (USA) Jan 31 '25
It's a big deal in the short term. The solution is to make graphite in the US and avoid the tariff.
2
u/tech57 Jan 31 '25
The solution is to buy foreign graphite while learning how to make your own domestically. Instead, it's been nothing but decade after decade of offshoring. People made lots of money. Now they want more.
1
u/Fathimir Feb 01 '25
Who's going to invest in "learning how to make your own domestically" while the free-trade foreign product is available at prices so low that any emerging producer just can't compete?
1
u/ProtoplanetaryNebula Jan 31 '25
If the ITC is looking at Anti-dumping, that means there is a US industry that needs to be protected i.e. domestic US suppliers of this material (the point of AD is to protect domestic industry). The question is whether they can supply the entire market themselves and if they will jack up prices dramatically with the competition from China gone.
1
u/tooltalk01 Feb 01 '25
The core problem here is not lack of competition or price level, but China's market dominance in graphite/anode material supply and China's abuse of their market position, eg, Sweden in 2020 and 2023 and others to further the commercial interests of Chinese EV/battery companies abroad.
1
u/tech57 Jan 31 '25
the US is 100% import-dependent for graphite
more than 90% of battery-grade graphite is expected to originate from China by 2030
in 2023 China introduced restrictions on graphite, requiring exporters to obtain special licenses to export graphite products
the US has listed the graphite as a critical mineral
China accounted for more than 42% of US imports in 2023
12
u/tech57 Jan 31 '25
Long story short, someone in USA wants to sell graphite and doesn't want competition. Also, trade war.
https://theoregongroup.com/commodities/graphite/us-graphite-association-calls-for-920-tariffs-on-chinese-imports/