The Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains issued a preliminary notice of intent on Wednesday to facilitate the conversion of conventional automobile plants to start manufacturing electric vehicles, Reuters reported. The endowed funds would come from the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last August to invest in green energy.
The document was released ahead of a possible funding opportunity announcement; however, there’s no guarantee the proposed idea will go through. “It is anticipated that the FOA would strengthen the domestic manufacturing of electrified vehicles of these given types, including light, medium, and heavy‐duty vehicles, and create good‐paying clean energy jobs with the free and fair chance to join a union,” read the notice.Nine to 15 individual awards would vary from $25 million to $500 million, and the grants would be available through September 2031.
The notice of intent comes as Biden handed a $9.2 billion government loan last week to Ford to finance the construction of three battery plants amid the auto brand’s planned layoffs. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford intends to soon cut over 1,000 employees and contract workers in North America due to high costs incurred by the industry’s investment in electric vehicles.