Scott Keogh, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America said that the United States faces a huge challenge in supplying electric vehicle batteries that are critical to electrification targets.
Challenges include providing a skilled workforce, mining essential minerals for EV batteries and supply chain issues.
Keogh said the move to electric vehicles was “America’s single largest industrial transformation.” Many car manufacturers have announced their electrification strategies. They and battery manufacturers have committed tens of billions of dollars to building production facilities across North America.
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This transformation requires a skilled workforce, mining facilities for essential minerals for EV batteries, supply chain issues and more broadly addressing healthcare, education and infrastructure, Keogh said.
Keogh said this transformation has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs by 2030 in the US battery industry production.
President Joe Biden has determined that 50% of new vehicle sales will be electric or plug-in electric by 2030.
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Keogh estimates that the United States makes 150,000-200,000 batteries per year and by 2030 will produce 8.5 million batteries annually.
Keogh also said the United States needed to increase their manufacturing capacity. The US manufacturing sector has fallen from more than 17 million jobs in 2000 to 12.8 million today.
