Biden Admin To Loan Billions For Stellantis-Samsung Battery Factories

Plans for battery factories in Indiana will be one step closer to reality thanks to a nearly $7 billion loan announced by the Biden administration on Monday.

The $6.85 billion loan will go to StarPlus, a joint venture between the U.S. auto manufacturer Stellantis and South Korean company Samsung SDI, The New York Times reported. President Joe Biden, who will leave office in less than two months, has given multiple loans to car manufacturers for electric vehicle battery plants, seeking to further his climate agenda.

The Biden administration’s announcement comes after Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares suddenly resigned on Sunday, citing “different views” between him and the board of directors. The company has underperformed financial expectations this year, and its sales have struggled, according to CNBC.

The Biden administration also announced last week that it is lending EV manufacturer Rivian $6 billion for a factory in Georgia. Rivian, which began producing EVs in the fall of 2021, has struggled to make money. The EV company was worth $150 billion three years ago but is now worth around $10 billion, The New York Post reported.

The StarPlus battery plants in Indiana will produce batteries for 670,000 vehicles per year and employ around 3,000 people, according to the Department of Energy. Stellantis owns major American car brands Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram. It also owns Fiat and Peugeot. The factories “will greatly expand E.V. battery manufacturing capacity in North America and reduce America’s reliance on adversarial foreign nations like China,” the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office said in a statement, according to the Times.

Since taking office, Biden has pushed to ensure that half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 are electric, offering Americans tax credits to purchase EVs. With President-elect Donald Trump taking over on January 20, 2025, however, those tax credits and EV incentives could be thrown out as Trump has signaled his opposition to them. Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk said earlier this year that he also supports getting rid of the EV tax credit, saying, “Taking[ing] away the subsidies … will only help Tesla.”

The loan agreements between the federal government and Rivian and StarPlus are expected to be finalized before Trump takes office, and the contracts will be binding.

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Despite the Biden administration’s push for more EV sales, vehicle demand remains low. A report from the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. published earlier this year found that 46% of Americans who bought an EV regret switching from a gas-powered car to an electric vehicle.

The Biden administration has loaned $34 billion to car companies such as Stellantis, Rivian, and Ford to produce low-emission or zero-emission vehicles.