Manufacturers have invested billions in US EV and EV battery factories in the last year – here’s how it breaks down.
US EV investments
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022 has served as a catalyst for rapid EV-related investment and job growth, and a newly released report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and engineering and design firm WSP USA breaks it down.
Since President Joe Biden signed the IRA into law, manufacturers have made more than $92.4 billion of concrete investments in EV and EV battery factories in the US.
And in the same time frame, more than 80,000 new direct US EV-related jobs have been announced. Some of these new jobs are for facilities that are already operating, and others are based on company announcements and are in the pipeline.
EDF researchers also noted rapid growth in US production capacity over the last six months. By 2026, US EV manufacturing facilities will be able to make about 4.7 million new passenger EVs annually – that represents 36% of all new vehicles sold last year. And by 2027, US facilities alone will be able to produce enough batteries to supply 12.2 million new passenger EVs each year, which represents 95% of new vehicles sold last year.
Where the EV factories are in the US
Just 10 states account for 88% of investments – and interestingly, a number of states in the top 10 are Republican-controlled. (No Republicans voted in support of the IRA.) The top 3 are:
Georgia, with $31.5 billion in EV investments and 33,600 jobs
Michigan, with $18.9 billionin investment and19,700jobs
Tennessee, with $18.4 billion in investments and 20,500 jobs
The next four states have more than $10 billion each in announced investments: South Carolina, Nevada, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Each now has between 10,000 and 20,000 announced new jobs.
Ohio, Arizona, and Indiana round out the top 10 states with more than $9 billion in announced investments each. Arizona’s announced investments increased by 260% from March – from $3.7 billion to $9.7 billion.
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James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.
There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.
Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:
He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.
He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.
For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.
Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.
It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.
But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.
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The next generation of Mercedes-Benz luxury vans is almost here. Mercedes’ first luxury electric van, based on its new VAN.EA platform, is now in Arjeplog, Sweden, for winter testing. The new platform will serve as the base for upcoming VIP private vans, high-end limousines, luxury all-arounders, and much more.
What we know about Mercedes’ new luxury electric van
Mercedes is already a leading van maker, both for business and private use. Starting next year, all electric Mercedes’ vans will launch on its new Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA).
After unveiling the platform almost two years ago, Mathias Geisen, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said “VAN.EA clearly underscores our aspiration to ‘Lead in Electric.” He explained that the purpose-built EV architecture supports both mid and large vans.
With a modular design, Mercedes can easily swap out sections to create a different design. The platform consists of three blocks, or modules.
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The first block has the electric powertrain while the middle module determines the van’s dimensions. At the rear, the final module can add another electric motor, giving it AWD capabilities.
With 4MATIC AWD, Mercedes claims the new architecture significantly expands driving range and ensures the vans “meet the highest standards regardless of weather conditions.”
Mercedes-Benz VAN.EA-P electric van testing in Sweden (Source: Mercedes-Benz)
Although final specs will be revealed closer to launch, the electric vans will be based on an 800V platform, suggesting relatively fast charging speeds.
The luxury vans will also be loaded with Mercedes’ new operating system (MB.OS), it’s powerful new in-vehicle software that powers all functions like infotainment, autonomous driving, and more.
After the electric van began testing on public roads late last year, Mercedes said it was headed to Sweden for winter testing before its official debut next year.
Mercedes plans to launch several versions for private and business use. The VAN.EA-P is designed for those looking for a mobile office, family activity vehicle, etc., while the VAN.EA-C is for commercial use, such as courier, express, and parcel delivery vehicles. It can even support larger vehicles like campers or RVs.
Mercedes aims for 20% of van sales to be electric by the end of next year. By 2030, the luxury brand wants half of all van sales to be EV.
HOUSTON — BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Monday that President Donald Trump‘s deportation policy will have a severe impact on the agriculture and construction sectors, which could lead to elevated inflation in the near term.
“I think that over the next six to nine months, we’re going to see a little more elevated inflation,” Fink said the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. “I do believe deportations and the speed at which it is happening is going to have severe impacts on the agricultural sector and the construction sector.”
Fink said CEOs in the agriculture sector have told him that about 70% of the men and women who work in the industry were not born in the U.S. This raises the question of whether the U.S. will have enough labor to harvest the crops when spring arrives, Fink said.
“With the whole idea that we’re going to have to use private capital to build out this economy — are we going to have enough workers,” Fink asked. “I’ve even told members of the Trump team that we’re going to run out of electricians as we build out AI data centers — we just don’t have enough,” the CEO said.
This potential labor shortage will contribute to inflation, Fink said. Over the longer term, however, the U.S. could see “big deflation because of the advancement of AI and robots and how that’s going to reshape the economy,” the CEO said.
The deflationary pressure that the U.S. experienced over the past two decades was due in part to the importation of cheaper goods from overseas though this hurt U.S. workers, Fink said. The shift to rising nationalism around the world will have an impact on prices, he said.
“When I go to Washington, they talk about these policies,” Fink said. “I ask at what cost are you willing to tolerate that. “Yes, we may have opportunities to create better and more robust jobs, but then the offside of that will be, it will probably create a little more elevated inflation in the short run.”
Trump’s deportation policy is occurring at the same time the president is imposing tariffs on major U.S. trade partners. The president has slapped 20% tariffs on China. He has paused tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods that are compliant with the deal that governs trade in North America. But Trump is threatening what he calls “reciprocal tariffs” in April.