Chinese batteries targeted by proposed US tariffs are primarily used in consumer goods like power tools, and would have little impact on the type used by electric vehicles or power projects, UBS Group told Bloomberg.
Among Chinese-made goods US president Donald Trump is proposing to tax are lithium primary cells and batteries, as well as nickel-cadmium and lead-acid batteries, according to a report from the U.S. Trade Representative office. Those types are mainly used in consumer applications, UBS analyst Lachlan Shaw told Bloomberg.
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"Any impact on EV battery supply would be minimal to nil," Shaw said. "It is lithium-ion rechargeable cells that are the ones that largely go into EVs."
Almost all the electric passenger vehicles sold in the US use lithium-ion batteries that are produced in the US or imported from South Korea, Japan and Canada, Ali Izadi-Najafabadi, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said. The batteries targeted in the proposed tariffs are used in watches, hearing aids and smoke alarms, he said.
The duties will probably affect companies such as Exide and Johnson Controls, which imports lead acid batteries from facilities in China, GTM Research energy analyst Ravi Manghani told Bloomberg.
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