Batteries Are Coming Home, Apple to India, EV Loads
US Energy Storage Industry Commits $100 Billion Investment in American-Made Grid Batteries
The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) theme continues to heat up, but now, the investment dollars are flowing into the U.S.
Currently, China dominates the production and installed capacity of battery systems, with 6 of the 10 largest battery companies HQ’d there. Thanks to heavy CCP incentives, China has built the world's largest vertically integrated Electric Vehicle supply chain, from minerals mining and refining to the world's largest EV producer, BYD, which overtook Tesla last year. From EV batteries to utility-scale BESS, China has the lead on the West.
But a big announcement this week may help to begin to shift the balance of power:
“Today the American Clean Power Association (ACP), on behalf of the U.S. energy storage industry, announced a historic commitment to invest $100 billion into building and buying American-made grid batteries. This investment is expected to fuel the creation of 350,000 jobs across the battery energy storage industry and transform the United States into a global battery manufacturing leader.
This announcement aligns with actions taken by the Trump Administration to unleash American energy and develop critical minerals in the United States. The industry’s investment will advance a manufacturing expansion in the United States with the aim of enabling American-made batteries to meet 100% of domestic energy storage project demand.”
Read the full release here.
Apple Leads Manufacturing Pivot to India
The Trump-led ‘America First’ agenda isn’t just about reshoring back to the U.S.; it is equally as much about taming the Chinese manufacturing powerhouse that has been built over the last three decades.
Part of that, will come in the form of nearshoring (bringing production closer to home and into the U.S. realm of influence, Canada & Latam) and friendshoring (bringing production not necessarily closer to home, but to countries the U.S. has better relationships with).
India fits into the latter.
“Last week, the Financial Times reported that Apple is planning to shift the assembly process for all US-sold iPhones from China to India by the end of next year. And, on Tuesday, Reuters reported that production has already started at one southern India plant, with shipments expected as soon as May.
The Cupertino, California-based giant [Apple] has been slowly diversifying its supply chains away from the Middle Kingdom [China] for years, opening its first iPhone manufacturing plant in India back in 2017. India now assembles about 18% of the roughly 230 million iPhones shipped every year, according to Counterpoint Research. Assembling all of the roughly 60 million iPhones sold in the US every year will likely require Apple to double its current manufacturing capacity in India, according to the FT.
Apple isn’t wasting any time: In addition to the factory that opened Tuesday, Reuters reports that Foxconn has begun construction of a $2.6 billion facility in Bengaluru, India, which will be capable of assembling as many as 500 iPhones per hour.”
Read the full article here.
EV Loads Are Coming — Here’s How They’ll Affect the Grid
“One of the biggest challenges posed by rapid growth in EV adoption today is ensuring our power grid can support this new demand. Today’s grid is not equipped to meet the power required by the anticipated increase in EV charging, at least not in all places.
The key question in planning for EVs is pinpointing when and where charging will be necessary. To help answer these questions, RMI developed GridUp, an open-access tool that identifies where EV load growth is likely to materialize.”
I highly suggest you take a look at the GridUp tool referenced above, especially for business owners focusing on EV infrastructure build outs (residential & commercial electricians as well as utility scale infrastructure builders). It will also be helpful for the PE funds we work with to get a good understanding of where their current or future portcos could focus their buildout efforts.
Get in touch
Interested in learning more about how we can guide your upcoming M&A activity?
Reach out and let’s begin the discussion.