READY FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF EV BATTERIES?

The Long Wait for Solid State EV Batteries Will Be Over Soon.

- Michael Coates

Batteries are the essential component for electric vehicles.

The promises of a lighter, cheaper battery that would give longer range has been elusive. It has always been just around the corner as major battery companies make incremental gains on each of the three fronts. We’re still peering around that corner, but it feels like we’re really going to get there this time.

This corner is a big one, on par with the leap from nickel-metal-hydride batteries to lithium-ion a decade and a half ago. Rather than the incremental improvements we’ve seen so far this century, this promises to be one that kicks electric vehicles into an even high gear and wider adoption as range limitations shrink and safety concerns fade.

OEM Investment

If it were merely a matter of money, we would have found that corner some time ago. But even the substantial investments of the past are being dwarfed as automakers team with battery companies to ramp up production for the expected explosion of EV popularity. The investments are spurred by a variety of government mandates — some to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, others to subsidize electric vehicles and, most recently, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act that will reward companies that use battery components from the U.S. or a trading partner.

That’s a problem right now, since Benchmark Minerals reports show 73% of the world’s cobalt and 59% of the lithium is processed in China. More than 90% of the world’s battery cathodes and anodes are produced in China. This is spurring an unprecedented wave of investment in American battery production as well as mining.