Episode description

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” energy specialist Emily Pickrell highlights industries and companies likely to benefit from the federal Inflation Reduction Act. 

Pickrell is a journalist and global energy scholar at the University of Houston and currently writes about energy, politics and technology for Forbes. She says the wide-ranging legislation will benefit suppliers of electricity needed for electric vehicles, among others. 

“That’s solar and wind and battery production,” she said. “That’s where a large portion of the benefits are going.” 

She notes the legislation contains about $80 billion for certain EVs, with caveats aimed at steering future electric vehicle production away from China and other countries “perceived as unfriendly” to the United States. 

“Tesla is an obvious, huge beneficiary of this,” she said. “They have a vertical supply chain, they’ve already thought about these issues in advance.” 

She predicts a push toward development of related supply chains in response to the legislation, along with a “broad re-think” in the industry around long-distance supply chains.