US Battery Hype Spurred by Climate Law Faces Hurdles From China

US battery projects have proliferated since the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted one year ago, outpacing other clean energy technologies encouraged by the climate-and-tax law and spotlighting a heavy lift of shifting supply chains from China.

Since August of 2022, when President Joe Biden signed the law, BloombergNEF has tracked $72 billion of announcements by automakers, battery manufacturers, and other stakeholders in the electric vehicle supply chain. That includes nearly $55 billion for battery-related projects.

While the industry’s supporters celebrate the progress, they acknowledge the scale of the investment represents the daunting challenge of turning the ...