{"id":165866,"date":"2021-04-09T15:27:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T19:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=165866"},"modified":"2021-04-12T01:23:21","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T05:23:21","slug":"south-korean-ev-battery-makers-wait-to-see-if-biden-will-reverse-itc-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/04\/south-korean-ev-battery-makers-wait-to-see-if-biden-will-reverse-itc-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean EV Battery Makers Wait to See if Biden Will Reverse ITC Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Biden is facing a deadline on a decision that could aid in avoiding a replay of the semiconductor crisis with EV batteries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ongoing feud between two South Korean EV battery producers is coming to a head Sunday and President Joe Biden looks like he\u2019s going to have to render the final decision.<\/p>\n

Rivals LG Chem and SK Innovation were in a pitched battle about trade secrets, the former claiming the latter stole them. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in LG Chem\u2019s favor<\/strong><\/span><\/a> on the matter last May, which included banning SKI from producing batteries in the U.S., although they have been bringing in components under a temporary reprieve from the ITC.<\/p>\n

However, Biden has the ability to set aside the ruling to allow SK Innovation to operate freely in the U.S. This is crucial as SKI is building a $2.6 billion battery facility in northern Georgia that will employ 2,600 people and produce more than 300,000 batteries annually<\/p>\n

Those batteries that will be used in U.S.-built (and sold) electric vehicles \u2014 EVs that are part of the President\u2019s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.<\/p>\n

Facing a deadline<\/h3>\n
\"GM<\/a>
LG Chem is building a battery production facility in Ohio with General Motors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biden could render a decision as early as today, Reuters reported, but Sunday is the deadline. The White House is encouraging the two sides to reach a settlement, but that seems unlikely at this point \u2014 although not impossible.<\/p>\n

There has been some cooperation between the two companies as LG Chem recently allowed SK to import components for batteries for Ford\u2019s EV F-150 program for the next four years, and Volkswagen\u2019s North American EVs for two years.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the matter is whether or not LG Chem can produce enough batteries to supply U.S. automakers if SKI\u2019s Georgia plant is scuttled. LG says yes. SKI says no. LG Chem is building a $2.3 billion plant in Lordstown, Ohio with General Motors<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to produce batteries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also reportedly building a second facility in Tennessee near GM\u2019s Spring Hill plant that will build the Cadillac Lyriq. LG Chem contends it can build the additional batteries at those facilities. SKI claims the plants couldn\u2019t serve GM as well as VW and Ford. It also warns that Chinese battery companies could secure that business. Currently there are four active battery production facilities in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the 142-lithium-ion battery mega factories that are under construction, 107 are in China. Nine are in the U.S. We can’t sustain this,\u201d said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during her confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n

\"Electric<\/a>
Ford is set to get batteries for its all-electric F-150 from SK Innovation \u2014 for four years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Support for a reversal<\/h3>\n

Given the support for a revival of the semiconductor business in the U.S. due to the shortages automakers are experiencing, asking for help ensuring a diverse supply base of battery makers by those auto companies isn\u2019t really a surprise. Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh said in a recent blog post on LinkedIn, the president needs to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this inflection point in automotive history, public policy can be a headwind or a tailwind,\u201d he wrote in the post. \u201cPast presidents have overridden the trade commission, and President Biden could do so in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to strengthen the battery industry, speed up America\u2019s transition to electric vehicles, and secure thousands of clean energy jobs. Now is the time to take the wheel and drive electrification forward<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s Republican Governor Brian Kemp made clear his feeling about a Biden intervention in the process: \u201cSimply put: the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians are now in your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Jon Ossoff has attempted to broker a peace between the two South Korean battery makers and Biden administration while his compatriot in the upper chamber, Senator Raphael Warnock, said if Biden doesn\u2019t reverse the decision it will be a \u201csevere punch in the gut for the folks who were counting on those jobs, not to mention President Biden\u2019s own goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ongoing feud between two South Korean EV battery producers is coming to a head Sunday and President Joe Biden is going to have to render the final decision. Biden can set aside a ban by the ITC on SK Innovation from making batteries in the U.S. LG Chem believes the ban should remain. Automakers are favoring SKI, reports TheDetroitBureau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":152644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,13,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,286,150,151,123,127,147,133,131,319,155,299,132,125,124,297,121,139,148,128,291,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165866"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=165866"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=165866"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=165866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}