President Joe Biden has set his sights on the Advanced Technology Manufacturing Vehicle (ATMV) loan program, created by the United States Department of Energy, as a strategy to support the complete electrification of the country. This program, which was somewhat slow for a long time, according to Autoweek, would be the best way to face a problem in the future: the immense demand for energy represented by the large number of sales of electric cars that are forecast in the country for 2040. This immense demand will require new battery technologies to be produced in the country so as not to depend on a supply chain, the interruption of which could become a major obstacle, as has happened with the global shortage of semiconductors.
The ATMV was established by Congress in 2007 and had, at that time, a capital of $ 25 billion destined to offer financing to all those companies that contribute to the creation of low-emission vehicles. Several companies benefited from this program, including Tesla, Nissan and Ford, three of the most responsible with this benefit. But the ATMV also had some mistakes represented by other companies such as Fisker and VPG that in the end turned into $ 181 million in losses. This unfortunate event was joined by Solyndra, another company aimed at working with solar energy that received $ 8 billion through this program.
In the interest of President Biden, the ATMV has received a new directive that will be in charge of granting these loans . According to Autoweek, due to the country’s growing need for independence, it is highly likely that the loans are now mostly directed towards the creation of battery technology for electric vehicles, one of President Biden’s main goals in his race against China, the main producer.
A few months ago, The president also proposed the recycling of batteries for electric vehicles that have already exhausted their useful life as one of the strategies to continue promoting this technology in the country . Around his management, other proposals are also being developed such as that of Cuberg, an emerging company that has been acquired by Northvolt to create energy-dense lithium metal batteries , a really novel type of technology that, perhaps, could benefit from this type of decision.
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