The new reform-movement United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain today attacked the $9.2 billion Department of Energy subsidized loan to Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and South Korean battery maker SK On Company saying, “These companies are extremely profitable and will continue to make money hand over fist whether they’re selling combustion engines or EVs. Yet the workers get a smaller and smaller piece of the pie.”
AutoInformed notes that this is a UAW contract year and an election year. Biden’s endorsement by the UAW is by no means assured, although we understand trade offs are unappetizing, but not as bad as endorsing one or more Republican candidates? This could just be UAW political talk. Ford Motor is also opening a $3.5 billion manufacturing plant in 2026 in Marshall, Michigan, using technology licensed from Chinese CATL. (AutoInformed: Biden Admin Making American Manufacturing Great Again)
“Why is Joe Biden’s administration facilitating this corporate greed with taxpayer money,” asked Fain. “We have been absolutely clear that the switch to electric engine jobs, battery production and other EV manufacturing cannot become a race to the bottom. Not only is the federal government not using its power to turn the tide – they’re actively funding the race to the bottom with billions in public money,” Fain said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) yesterday announced a conditional commitment for a record loan of up to $9.2 billion to BlueOval SK LLC (BOSK) for the construction of three manufacturing plants to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s upcoming Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles (EVs). Together, the plants, one located in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, will enable more than 120 gigawatt hours of U.S. battery production annually and displace more than 455 million gallons of gasoline per year for the lifetime of the vehicles powered by these batteries, DOE claims. The project is expected to create a total ~ 5000 constructions jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7500 operations jobs once the plants are up and running.
“This effort supports President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to onshore and re-shore domestic manufacturing of technologies that are critical to reaching the clean energy and transportation future. Expanding domestic production of American-made batteries is critical to reaching the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to have EVs represent at least 50% of all new car sales in the U.S. by 2030, reach net-zero electricity by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050,” DOE said.
The announcement is one of several recent LPO conditional commitments under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program in the last year, “demonstrating LPO’s leadership in building a strong domestic supply chain for EVs.
Through ATVM, LPO provides loans to projects related to fuel-efficient vehicles and eligible component manufacturing in the United States. Recent announcements have spanned the critical mineral and battery supply chains and involved mineral processing, battery manufacturing, and battery recycling,” LPO said.
“We have been absolutely clear that the switch to electric engine jobs, battery production and other EV manufacturing cannot become a race to the bottom. Not only is the federal government not using its power to turn the tide – they’re actively funding the race to the bottom with billions in public money, said Fain.
“In the past five years, workers who build GM products in Lordstown, Ohio, have had their lives turned upside down as they were forced to retire, quit or uproot their families and move all over the United States when GM closed their plants despite massive profits. Their jobs were replaced in GM’s new joint-venture battery facility with jobs that pay half of what workers made at the previous Lordstown plant. Not only is the White House refusing to right this wrong, they’re giving Ford $9.2 billion to create the same low-road jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee.
“The last time the federal government gave the Big Three billions of dollars, the companies did the exact same thing: slash wages, cut jobs, and undermine the industry that for generations created the best jobs for working families in this country. Autoworkers and our families took the hit in 2009 in the name of saving the industry. We were never made whole, and it’s an absolute shame to see another Democratic administration doubling down on a taxpayer-funded corporate giveaway,” said Fain.
EV Politics – Biden versus the UAW
The new reform-movement United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain today attacked the $9.2 billion Department of Energy subsidized loan to Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and South Korean battery maker SK On Company saying, “These companies are extremely profitable and will continue to make money hand over fist whether they’re selling combustion engines or EVs. Yet the workers get a smaller and smaller piece of the pie.”
AutoInformed notes that this is a UAW contract year and an election year. Biden’s endorsement by the UAW is by no means assured, although we understand trade offs are unappetizing, but not as bad as endorsing one or more Republican candidates? This could just be UAW political talk. Ford Motor is also opening a $3.5 billion manufacturing plant in 2026 in Marshall, Michigan, using technology licensed from Chinese CATL. (AutoInformed: Biden Admin Making American Manufacturing Great Again)
“Why is Joe Biden’s administration facilitating this corporate greed with taxpayer money,” asked Fain. “We have been absolutely clear that the switch to electric engine jobs, battery production and other EV manufacturing cannot become a race to the bottom. Not only is the federal government not using its power to turn the tide – they’re actively funding the race to the bottom with billions in public money,” Fain said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) yesterday announced a conditional commitment for a record loan of up to $9.2 billion to BlueOval SK LLC (BOSK) for the construction of three manufacturing plants to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s upcoming Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles (EVs). Together, the plants, one located in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, will enable more than 120 gigawatt hours of U.S. battery production annually and displace more than 455 million gallons of gasoline per year for the lifetime of the vehicles powered by these batteries, DOE claims. The project is expected to create a total ~ 5000 constructions jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7500 operations jobs once the plants are up and running.
“This effort supports President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to onshore and re-shore domestic manufacturing of technologies that are critical to reaching the clean energy and transportation future. Expanding domestic production of American-made batteries is critical to reaching the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to have EVs represent at least 50% of all new car sales in the U.S. by 2030, reach net-zero electricity by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050,” DOE said.
The announcement is one of several recent LPO conditional commitments under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program in the last year, “demonstrating LPO’s leadership in building a strong domestic supply chain for EVs.
Through ATVM, LPO provides loans to projects related to fuel-efficient vehicles and eligible component manufacturing in the United States. Recent announcements have spanned the critical mineral and battery supply chains and involved mineral processing, battery manufacturing, and battery recycling,” LPO said.
“We have been absolutely clear that the switch to electric engine jobs, battery production and other EV manufacturing cannot become a race to the bottom. Not only is the federal government not using its power to turn the tide – they’re actively funding the race to the bottom with billions in public money, said Fain.
“In the past five years, workers who build GM products in Lordstown, Ohio, have had their lives turned upside down as they were forced to retire, quit or uproot their families and move all over the United States when GM closed their plants despite massive profits. Their jobs were replaced in GM’s new joint-venture battery facility with jobs that pay half of what workers made at the previous Lordstown plant. Not only is the White House refusing to right this wrong, they’re giving Ford $9.2 billion to create the same low-road jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee.
“The last time the federal government gave the Big Three billions of dollars, the companies did the exact same thing: slash wages, cut jobs, and undermine the industry that for generations created the best jobs for working families in this country. Autoworkers and our families took the hit in 2009 in the name of saving the industry. We were never made whole, and it’s an absolute shame to see another Democratic administration doubling down on a taxpayer-funded corporate giveaway,” said Fain.