While Joe Biden was busy throttling the latest Corvette with car executives at the Detroit auto show earlier this month, much of the rest of the industry filed into a jam-packed convention center about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west for a forum the president also managed to rev up.
The Battery Show saw its biggest attendance yet: 15,000 people, up 64% from last year and almost 50% from pre-pandemic levels, according to organizers. One big factor behind all the interest was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that Biden signed into U.S. law last month. Battery upstarts are salivating over the goodies in the bill, particularly the tax credits for manufacturing components in the U.S.
Jim Greenberger, the head of a trade association for battery tech in North America, said when he went to the welcome reception, he thought he might be in the wrong room because he didn’t recognize anyone.
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