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Help us identify ways to turn today’s environmental challenges into job-creating and economic opportunities!The transition to clean and electric vehicles (EVs) here in the United States—and in nations across the world—presents an opportunity for the United States to lead in manufacturing the vehicles of the future.
The Challenge
In the United States, the transportation sector represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. While reducing emissions from vehicles cannot be the only strategy we pursue in our efforts to decarbonize our transportation systems, we will not meet our climate goals without a transition to cleaner cars, buses, and trucks.
The Opportunity
The transition to clean and electric vehicles (EVs) here in the United States—and in nations across the world—presents an opportunity for the United States to lead in manufacturing the vehicles of the future. Several significant federal initiatives to promote domestic manufacturing of vehicles and vehicle parts and components have been enacted in the early 2020s.
First, the Inflation Reduction Act updates the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit to promote U.S. auto and battery manufacturing. The updated clean vehicle tax credit will shape the future of the global auto manufacturing sector: it brings down the cost of buying battery and fuel cell electric vehicles by up to $7,500—and makes that money available at the dealership, increasing access to EVs—while incentivizing the establishment of a complete and resilient supply chain for essential battery components in North America.
Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act funds two key programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that will speed the transition to clean vehicles and grow the domestic supply chain for these vehicles: the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program and the Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program. The ATVM is a longstanding and successful program that grants loans to manufacturing facilities building advanced technology vehicles, such as those incentivized by the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit. The Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants Program also supports the auto manufacturing sector but is targeted to provide direct grants to recently closed or at-risk facilities. The Inflation Reduction Act provides $2 billion for this program, which will fund the retooling efforts needed to transform production lines that were building internal combustion engine vehicles and their parts into production lines for the clean and electric vehicles of the future.
Working with Atlas Public Policy, the BlueGreen Alliance developed the EV Jobs Hub, which allows policymakers, advocates, and the public to see where new EV manufacturing jobs are being announced, if those jobs will be union, and if the investments are being made in disadvantaged communities in the United States. The EV Jobs Hub provides actionable information on EV manufacturing and employment trends. The hub contains a wealth of data on EV manufacturing at the facility level, including:
- Investments in the assembly of various vehicle classes;
- Manufacturing of vehicle components; and
- Battery production, battery recycling, and EV charging manufacturing.
The investment data is coupled with information on federal funding programs and incentives, subsidies, and classifications for disadvantaged communities and congressional districts. It also includes the announced jobs for a facility and their unionization status where available. The hub aggregates this information in an easy-to-use dashboard to help users quickly find the information they need.
