The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued two notices of intent to provide a total of $2.91 billion to boost production of the advanced batteries that are critical to rapidly growing clean energy industries of the future, including electric vehicles and energy storage. DOE intends to fund battery materials refining and production plants, battery cell and pack manufacturing facilities, and recycling facilities.

The first opportunity (DE-FOA-0002677) is anticipated to provide approximately $2.8 billion to fund research and development within electric vehicle battery processing and increase domestic battery manufacturing. The overall scope includes demonstrations and commercial facilities for battery-grade precursor materials, battery components, and cell manufacturing and recycling.

The FOA is anticpated to include the following areas of interest:

Battery Material Processing

1. Commercial-scale domestic separation of battery materials from extracted feedstocks for cathode production. The objective of this area of interest is to create a commercially sustainable battery precursor market for cathode production from extracted feedstocks. This critical gap in the supply chain provides an entry point for both mined and recycled battery materials, creates supply chain resilience, and adds to the overall value chain for the electric vehicle sector.

   Sources in this area of interest can come from both geologic deposits as well as unconventional sources including but not limited to coal mine tailings and acid drainage and should produce battery-grade precursors as an output.

2. Commercial-scale domestic production of battery grade graphite from synthetic and natural feedstocks. The objective of this area of interest is to create a sustainable domestic industry for graphite anode production from natural and synthetic sources. Due to the minimal processing from precursor to component, this area of interest includes the graphitization and spheroidization steps as well to create graphite anode powder from high purity graphite.

3. Commercial-scale domestic battery materials extraction and processing. Open Topic. The objective of this area of interest is to support domestic production of commercially sustainable battery precursor materials not covered in area of interest 1 and 2. Competitive submissions should identify their proposed scale, timeline, and economic projections, as well as identify upstream feedstock and downstream supply markets for their proposed battery precursor material.

4. Demonstrations of domestic separation and production of battery-grade materials from unconventional domestic sources. The objective of this area of interest is to accelerate the commercialization of separation and extraction technologies to capitalize on the potential from unconventional domestic sources through large-scale demonstration projects. This comes in a variety of deleterious materials and sources, such as mine tailings, coal ash, and drainage ponds, among others.

5. Demonstrations of domestic battery materials separation and processing. Open Topic. The objective of this area of interest is to support large-scale demonstration projects of advanced processes with the potential to improve yield and decrease cost, energy, water usage, and emissions related to the production of precursor materials. Competitive submissions should identify their proposed scale, timeline, and economic projections, as well as identify upstream feedstock and downstream supply markets for their proposed battery precursor material.

Battery Component Manufacturing and Recycling

6. Commercial-scale domestic battery cell manufacturing. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States that can produce lithium ion battery cells capable of being integrated into a module, pack, or system that can be used in electric vehicles and/or electric grid energy storage applications.

7. Commercial-scale domestic battery cathode manufacturing. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States that can produce lithium ion cathode powder that can be used in advanced battery cells capable of being integrated into a module, pack, or system that can be used in electric vehicles and/or electric grid energy storage applications.

8. Commercial-scale domestic battery separator manufacturing. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States that can produce lithium ion battery separator materials that can be used in advanced battery cells capable of being integrated into a module, pack, or system that can be used in electric vehicles and/or electric grid energy storage applications.

9. Commercial-scale domestic next generation silicon anode active materials and electrodes. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States that can produce silicon anode active material or silicon containing electrodes. The silicon material or electrode should be used in advanced battery cells capable of being integrated into a module, pack, or system that can be used in electric vehicles and/or electric grid energy storage applications.

10. Commercial-scale domestic battery component manufacturing. Open Topic. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States that can produce lithium-based battery components that were not addressed in other AOIs. The battery components should be used in advanced battery cells capable of being integrated into a module, pack, or system that can be used in electric vehicles and/or electric grid energy storage applications. The lithium- based battery components could include enhancements, enclosures, electrolytes, and other associated technologies that comprise an advanced battery.

11. Commercial-scale domestic battery recycling. The objective of this area of interest is to build new manufacturing plants or to retool, retrofit, or expand existing manufacturing plant(s) in the United States for battery recycling facilities. All recycling processes will be considered, provided they are able to produce battery-grade feedstock as a product. For those processes that produce intermediate products as an output, applicants should identify potential domestic partners to produce battery grade precursor material.

12. Domestic battery cell and component manufacturing demonstration topic. The objective of this area of interest is to build a manufacturing large-scale demonstration facility for the processing of battery cells, materials, or components. The facility will introduce new manufacturing processes or techniques that have never been utilized at scale for the EV and electric grid market. The area of interest will prioritize next generation battery chemistry and/or cost savings achieved through the novel manufacturing processes implemented.

It is anticipated that the second FOA (DOE-FOA-0002679) will provide approximately $60 million to fund research, development, and demonstration, of electric drive vehicle battery recycling and second use applications. This notice of intent supports reuse, second use, and innovative recycling processing to achieve scale-up and profitability.

It is anticipated that the FOA may include the following Areas of Interest:

1. Recycling processing and reintegration into the battery supply chain. The objective of this area of interest is to accelerate the development of recycling processes and the requalification of that material into the battery supply chain to support domestic supply chain resiliency. Innovative processes should utilize end of life lithium batteries as feedstocks. The proposed processes may use manufacturing scrap materials in addition to end of life feedstocks. The process output should be qualified for reintegration into the battery supply chain. The anticipated topic size is $40 million.

2. Second-use scale-up demonstration projects. The objective of this area of interest is to establish demonstration projects to understand and validate real-world performance of and potential for deploying spent EV batteries including applications outside of the automotive industry. Technologies of interest include but are not limited to the capability to quickly and accurately grade battery state of health and solutions to dynamically balance second-use battery cells. The anticipated topic size is $20 million.

DOE plans to issue these FOA on or about April-May 2022.