Republican lawmakers criticize U.S. grant to battery company with China ties

Microvast Holdings

07/12/2022 22:23

By David Shepardson
       WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Two senior Republican
lawmakers on Wednesday were highly critical of the decision by
the U.S. Energy Department to award $200 million to Microvast
Holdings  MVST.O  over the lithium battery company's ties to the
Chinese government.
    In October, Texas-based Microvast won a $20 million U.S.
grant from the department to help build a new EV battery
components plant in Tennessee.
    Representative Frank Lucas, top Republican on the House
Science Committee, said nearly 80% of Microvast’s assets are in
China and 61% of its revenue in 2021 originated in China.
    "Award of funding to a company with known ties to the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) raises serious concerns about the
department’s ability to protect U.S. taxpayer dollars from
exploitation by the CCP," Lucas wrote in a letter to Energy
Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
    In November, Microvast and General Motors  GM.N  said they
would work together "to develop specialized EV battery separator
technology and build a new separator plant in the U.S., which is
expected to create hundreds of new jobs." The companies are
investing $304 million in the project, Microvast said.
    Separators serve to separate the anode from the cathode in
batteries. GM said it would contribute its advanced separator
technology to the Microvast collaboration.
    Senator John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, wrote Granholm in a separate letter
saying that Microvast "is joined at the hip with China." He
called the award "demonstrably antithetical" to the intent of
the $1 trillion 2012 infrastructure law.
    The Energy Department said "Microvast is an American battery
company" and because of the grant "it no longer needs to look to
China to establish its manufacturing facilities" and "will allow
Microvast to build a separator production plant here at home."
    Over 200 companies applied for $2.8 billion in Energy
Department grants and 20 received awards.
    Microvast and General Motors did not immediately comment. 
    A $430 billion climate bill approved in August imposes
rising sourcing requirements on battery minerals and components
on a $7,500 EV tax credit and aims to phase out content from
countries like China.
 (Reporting by David Shepardson
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))