Due to the impending significant shift toward electric vehicles, North America will experience an unprecedented increase in the production of EV batteries this decade.
According to the Vehicle Technologies Office of the Department of Energy (DOE), the total capacity for battery production will nearly double in the next ten years (between 2021 and 2030).
The North American battery manufacturing capacity, as reported by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), was about 55 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year in 2021 and has remained essentially unchanged since 2018 (51 GWh/year), when Tesla opened its Gigafactory in Nevada.
Almost 1,000 GWh/year by 2030
However, ANL now forecasts 90 GWh/year in 2022 and 177 GWh/year this year. With the revealed battery plants in the United States, Canada, and Mexico (through November 2022), the volume is projected to rise to 346 GWh/year in 2024, exceed 800 GWh/year in 2025, and reach nearly 998 GWh/year by 2030.
Those figures could rise if more battery plants are announced in North America.
The increase from 55 GWh/year in 2021 to nearly 1,000 GWh/year (or 1 TWh) in 2030 is quite remarkable.
In line with the report, by 2030, the industry should be able to support batteries for 10-13 million all-electric vehicles per year (assuming 77-100 kWh per vehicle on average).
Locations of battery plants
New battery plants are typically located near vehicle assembly plants to simplify logistics and cut costs.
Most of the designed battery plants in the US are focused along a north-south band from Michigan to Alabama.
According to the report, the states with the highest growth in battery manufacturing capacity (based on announced plans) will be Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Michigan.
