Some experts warn that the governor's decision to reject Ford and CATL's battery plant was a missed opportunity.
A CATL display at RE+, held in Anaheim, California, September 2022. Credit: CATL
The U.S. is enjoying a boom in clean energy investment, but at least one state leader isn’t fully on board. Last month, Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin turned down a major investment from carmaker Ford to build a battery factory in the state that was set to create thousands of jobs.
The hitch? Chinese involvement.
Youngkin says he blocked the multi-billion dollar deal due to Ford’s partnership on the project with Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology — usually known as CATL — telling reporters it was not right to let the storied U.S. company become a “front for China to America.”
Credit: @GovernorVA
The decision demonstrates how the tense state of U.S.-China relations is spilling into business, and some experts warn it is the U.S.'s loss. CATL is the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, accounting for 37 percent of global manufacturing capacity in 2022, according to SNE, a market research firm. The U.
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