House Digs Deeper Into Chinese-Owned Battery Company’s Rescinded Grant From Biden DOE

DOE official says 'in-depth vetting began' only after announcements of billions in funding, which boosted stock prices for grantees

A worker’s reflection on a mirror framing a lithium-ion battery production line at a plant in Huzhou, China, owned by Microvast Holdings, whose Texas-based subsidiary qualified to negotiate for a $200 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to build lithium batteries in the U.S. Stringer/Reuters

House Republicans have voiced concerns about the Biden administration’s energy-related spending, questioning a Department of Energy (DOE) official about how a Chinese-owned battery manufacturer was on pace to get hundreds of millions in taxpayer money before the Biden administration rescinded the money in May.

That company, Microvast, somehow qualified for a $200 million grant to build a battery separator facility in Tennessee as part of spending doled out through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).