What’s Behind the Wave of Canceled EV and Battery Factories?

Published by Imcarenthusist on April 4, 2025April 4, 2025

What’s Behind the Wave of Canceled EV and Battery Factories?

Electric vehicle manufacturing facilities, which produce lithium batteries, car parts, and critical minerals, have sprouted up across the United States in recent years. With the help of funding and tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, these factories pledged to create jobs, mostly in Republican districts, and to start the country’s transition to producing electric vehicles domestically.

Prior to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports, numerous projects were canceled, threatening thousands of jobs and the transition to renewable energy.

According to data from Atlas Public Policy, a policy research firm, more projects were canceled in the first quarter of 2025 than in the previous two combined. Those cancellations include a $1 billion factory in Georgia that would have made thermal barriers for batteries and a $1.2 billion lithium-ion battery factory in Arizona.

“It’s hard at the moment to be a manufacturer in the U.S. given uncertainties on tariffs, tax credits, and regulations,” said Tom Taylor, senior policy analyst at Atlas Public Policy. He added that hundreds of millions of dollars in additional investments appear to have stalled but have not yet been formally canceled.

“Nothing is more important to business than market clarity,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a clean energy advocacy group. “It’s about as clear as a blizzard at midnight.”