S&P Global Podcast Gives a Glimpse Into What’s Driving Michigan’s EV Battery Manufacturing Boom

Australian green technology, energy, and metals company Fortescue recently announced that it plans to build and develop a U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Center in Detroit, Michigan. One of many new electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing investments in the U.S, the company says, “the Piquette Avenue facility will become a major hub for Fortescue’s production of automotive and heavy industry batteries, fast chargers, and electrolyzers.”

The S&P Global podcast Energy Evolution took a deep dive into how Michigan landed this important new development that is projected to create as many as 600 high-quality jobs in the state. In short, it didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen by accident.

For their podcast, hosts Taylor Kuykendall and Dan Testa were joined by correspondent Camellia Moors who interviewed Quentin Messer Jr., CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and President and Chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF), and Nick Nigro, founder of the research and advisory group Atlas Public Policy.

Messer talked about the process of landing the Fortescue investment. MEDC, he said, supports the state’s strategy to “make more in Michigan, whether it's in the battery storage, EV battery supply chain, clean energy, semiconductors, or defense and aerospace, among other sectors.” Fortescue was looking at dozens of other locations but chose Detroit after a nearly two-year search.

Detroit was particularly appealing, Messer said, because, due to its long history as the home of numerous industrial manufacturers, it has numerous brownfield sites, land that was previously built on but is currently vacant. Fortescue was explicitly interested in building on a brownfield site because of their “overall belief in sustainability.”

MEDC played a key role in managing the relationship between Fortescue and the state, Messer said.

Another element that attracted Fortescue was the financial support given by the state. MSF has approved a $9 million performance-based grant from the Michigan Business Development Program, as well as a package of tax incentives. Overall, Moors said, estimated private investment into this project is $210 million.

According to Moors, there has been $161 billion in private investment announcements into EVs and batteries overall since President Joe Biden took office. This comes as U.S. EV demand is expected to grow 174% between this year and 2028, she said.

Nigro told Moors that the EV-based industry is “evolving quickly and it's hard to actually keep up with how much money is pouring into the development of batteries and the corresponding electric vehicle supply chain.” He described the so-called “Battery Belt” in the U.S. that goes from Michigan through the southern part of the country, where roughly three quarters of the more than $230 billion in investments in the clean economy are taking place.

These investments are predicted to result in enough capacity to provide batteries for more than half of the car and truck sales by the end of this decade. This aligns with the environmental regulations currently being considered by the federal government. The U.S., Nigro said, will need to “build a domestic supply chain so that the United States can regain its leadership position in the global economy.”

What’s clear from this discussion is that the future of clean energy vehicles requires a dedicated approach and collaboration between the state and federal governments, manufacturers, and public and private investors with a shared vision for the future. In Michigan, all of those elements are in place, which is helping it attract new manufacturers to the state.