The Electric: The IRA Has Triggered a Nickel War

In December 2021, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) killed one of President Joe Biden’s signature initiatives—an extension of the $7,500-a-vehicle consumer tax credit on the sale of electric vehicles, which he said did not need public subsidies. Months later, though, Manchin said he would go along with the subsidies—if they were tied to a robust effort to build a U.S. battery industry, from mining to metals processing and battery assembly, and reduce American reliance on dominant Chinese companies. In August 2022, that led to the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which, as Manchin had demanded, included the subsidies but also dangled rich carrots to jump-start an EV battery supply chain in the U.S.

Today, the IRA is the subject of a bitter fight. Manchin, along with allies in big labor and domestic mining companies, claim the Biden administration has undermined the intent of the IRA and jeopardized the U.S.’s chance to be a major global EV battery maker. The administration, backed by environmentalist groups and domestic auto and battery makers, says it’s implementing the law as written.