Good morning. Welcome, Axios today. It's Thursday, February 2nd. I'm Nyla Moodoo. Here's

what we're covering today. Tyree Nichols is laid to rest in Memphis. Plus, the West's

fight over water. But first, jump starting the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.

That's today's one big thing.

President Biden's plan to scale up domestic battery manufacturing for electric vehicles

is proving to be popular. But the new incentives may end up costing the government more than

originally planned. Axios' Joanne Muller has a scoop. Hi, Joanne. Hi, Nyla.

So when we say popular, what exactly are we talking about?

Well, these particular tax credits are for manufacturers who open factories to produce

electric vehicle batteries in the United States. But this was part of a big pot of incentives

that were approved by Congress. And the one that a lot of people have heard about is a

$7,500 tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. But this other tax credit, just for

manufacturers, is the real sleeper in the bill, I think, because it really is going to

add up to a lot of money going back to manufacturers, car makers, battery companies, those kinds

of companies. So why is that? Right now, most of the batteries for electric vehicles are

made in China. And the Biden administration and Congress really want to build a domestic

supply chain. So what they've done is they've offered a tax credit to car makers for every

battery that they produce in the US. And basically, the way this credit works is it shapes

about one-third of the cost of the battery off of the price. And so if that is passed

on to consumers, that also helps to make electric vehicles more affordable.

So what is the cost then to taxpayers for this if these are government incentives?

When this bill was being debated, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it was going

...