"U.S. Trade Authorities Deal Blow To Biden’s Electric Vehicle Plans"

"A fight between two South Korean manufacturers puts the already shaky supply of batteries for U.S. electric vehicles in jeopardy."

"The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday banned one of the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery manufacturers from selling its cells in the United States, striking  a blow to the Biden administration’s ambitious plan to electrify the nation’s auto fleet.

The decision bars South Korean giant SK Innovation from importing its batteries or the components to make them for 10 years, ruling that the company stole trade secrets from its cross-town rival, LG Energy Solution.

The ruling gave the automakers Ford and Volkswagen, which had designed key electric models around the SK Innovation battery, a few years to switch suppliers. But the decision casts a shadow over the future of SK Innovation’s $2.6 billion pair of battery facilities in Jackson County, Georgia, which already started hiring some of the nearly 3,000 workers the Seoul-based firm expected to employ by 2024. "

Alexander C. Kaufman reportts for HuffPost February 10, 2021.

Source: HuffPost, 02/11/2021