Zoe Lipman of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups that advised the report’s authors, said an important concern in the United States was whether automakers would shift production abroad.
“Many companies have made very promising commitments to make major investments in this sector,” Ms. Lipman said. “It’s not clear where they’ll make those investments yet.” Her group supports government incentives to make it cheaper to buy electric vehicles and subsidies for companies to build up manufacturing facilities in the United States.
When it comes to vehicle components as opposed to final assembly, the United States appears to be even further behind other countries. This is particularly true for battery packs, which can cost around $15,000 and are by far the most expensive component of an electric vehicle powertrain.
According to a report this year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and BloombergNEF, an energy research group, well over half the value of batteries used in U.S.-made electric vehicles accrued to companies based abroad, primarily South Korea, Japan and China.
By contrast, the report noted, “in China 100 percent of the value of a finished battery tends to accrue locally.”
Mr. Abuelsamid and other analysts have argued that battery production will naturally ramp up in the United States as more electric vehicles roll off assembly lines, noting that batteries can be expensive to ship and that doing so increases their carbon footprint. Manufacturers often want component-makers nearby to minimize supply disruptions as well. Recent announcements by General Motors and Ford that they are taking on a greater role in battery production appear to reflect this thinking.
Analysts from BloombergNEF have painted a somewhat more mixed picture. The report from earlier this year found that Chinese, Japanese and South Korean battery makers continued to source the most valuable battery parts from their home countries well after they set up assembly plants in Europe, where the electric vehicle market is growing rapidly.