EDF Report: U.S. electric vehicle investments reached $188B over nine years

Although bolstered further by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, the trend of electric vehicle manufacturing investments in the United States has been climbing for the last nine years to $188 billion.

These were the findings of a new report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF): “U.S. Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Investment and Jobs: Characterizing the Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act” after 18 months. The immediate impact is obvious: most of the aforementioned investments occurred in the last 18 months, following passage of the Biden administration’s pushed for IRA. For context, one year ago, the figure stood at $120 billion in investments, meaning that in 12 months, another approximately $68 billion pumped into EV and battery manufacturing.

All told, $114 billion of these investments occurred in the years following passage of the IRA.

“American electric vehicle manufacturing continues to race forward, driven by historic federal policies that have catalyzed tremendous investment and job creation,” Ellen Robo, manager of transportation and clean air policy at EDF, said. “The U.S. is creating zero-emitting cars that save money at the gas pump, and communities across the country will benefit from cleaner air and a stronger economy.”

Speaking of the economy, the investments also led to 195,000 electric vehicle-related jobs in the last nine years, about 100,000 of them created since the passage of the IRA. According to the EDF and the consulting firm WSP USA, announced investments could create more than 876,000 more jobs throughout the economy.

Currently, Georgia also leads the pack for where these investments have gone, with $31.2 billion in investments. Michigan followed in second, with more than $20 billion in announced manufacturing investments.

By 2027, the report predicted that manufacturing facilities will be able to produce 1,099 GW hours of EV batteries and about 5.5 million new electric vehicles annually.