In the first quarter of 2026, actual investment in US clean technology manufacturing fell for a sixth consecutive quarter to $8 billion, an 11% drop from Q4 2025 and 34% decline relative to Q1 2025. This quarter marks the lowest for quarterly actual investment in nearly three years, since Q2 2023, and the lowest level of announced investments in more than five years. Cancelled investment was subdued at less than $2 billion after the record-high $8 billion of cancellations that occurred in Q4 2025.
The electric vehicle (EV) supply chain—critical minerals, batteries, vehicle assembly, and charging equipment—continued to dominate manufacturing investment in Q1 2026, accounting for 89% of total manufacturing investment at around $7 billion. With the exception of investment in facilities producing critical minerals, all technologies experienced quarter-on-quarter investment declines. Battery investment experienced the steepest decline, down 16% relative to the previous quarter and 47% from Q1 2025. EV assembly investment fell 2% from Q4 2025, but remained 18% above Q1 2025 levels. In contrast, investment in critical mineral projects increased 36% from Q4 2025 and 22% from Q1 2025. Investment in EV fueling equipment projects fell 4% quarter-on-quarter, and a substantial 84% relative to Q1 2025.
Outside the EV supply chain, investment in solar manufacturing fell to its lowest level in three years, down 22% from Q4 2025 and 15% from the same period last year. Investment in wind manufacturing declined 2% quarter-on-quarter, but quadrupled compared to Q1 2025.
Announced investment across all manufacturing technologies totaled $2 billion, a 37% dip from Q4 2025 and a 79% decline from Q1 2025, making this the lowest quarter for announcements since Q3 2020. Critical minerals accounted for the largest share of announcements at $1 billion, followed by EV assembly and battery technologies, at roughly $400 million each. Notably, none of the new announced battery projects focused solely on powering EVs, with most manufacturers citing energy storage as their end use. Announced investments in solar projects reached close to $200 million.
Canceled investments this quarter totaled $1.6 billion, coming largely from solar ($1 billion), with the remainder from EV assembly ($600 million). Ongoing shifts in the EV and battery landscape, including joint venture restructuring, production pauses and scale-backs, and battery manufacturing pivots from EVs toward energy storage, create uncertainty in the outlook for future quarters.
The Clean Investment Monitor’s Q1 2026 US manufacturing data is now available on ClimateDeck, Rhodium Group’s free interactive data platform. Our full US Q1 2026 update to the Clean Investment Monitor database—including tracking the deployment of clean technologies—will be released in May.