China's dominance on batteries illustrates its edge over U.S.
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China's dominance in batteries shows just how much the Asia powerhouse is beating the U.S. on key tech fronts.
Why it matters: This positions China to be the geopolitical winner as the world transitions (unevenly) to cleaner energy.
Inside the room: Spencer Gore, founder of the now-defunct battery maker Bedrock Materials, visited China as part of his research. He recounted his experience for the latest podcast episode of "Shocked."
- The battery-material campuses are the size of small towns. As many as a dozen production lines operate remotely, and the facilities themselves are "something out of science fiction," he said.
- "It's decades ahead of anything that we've done here," Gore said.
The intrigue: Gore's reflections echo those of a group of Western venture capitalists' recent trip to China.
- They told Bloomberg the visit showed just how many clean-energy technologies were simply not investable domestically because of China's leadership — including batteries.
The big picture: China has been beating the U.S. in the clean-energy race for at least a decade, probably far longer, especially including batteries and the materials and processes involved in making them.
- Any inroads the U.S. has tried to make in recent years are being eroded as President Trump pulls back support for electric cars (a key demand signal) and related initiatives.
Driving the news: The U.S.-China trade war escalated earlier this month when China said it was tightening export controls on a range of critical minerals.
- China also said it was requiring licenses for exports of certain lithium batteries and associated products, which could raise prices of lithium after a recent plummet.
Zoom in: Such a twist would turn Gore's initial thinking on its head.
- His startup was betting that batteries made from plentiful and cheap sodium-ion would out-compete lithium, which is concentrated in China and saw prices skyrocket between 2020 and 2022.
- But by December 2024, largely due to China's advancements, "there was not really a clear pathway to make a sodium-ion battery that was cheaper than lithium-ion," Gore said.
How it works: Batteries made from sodium ion, compared to lithium, are cheaper and safer (lithium is flammable). But they're heavier.
- That compels their application as energy storage to the power grid and even inside people's houses, said Shirley Meng, a University of Chicago professor and chief scientist for energy storage designs at the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory.
The bottom line: Gore still thinks sodium-ion batteries can scale if the competitive economics improve — which is, of course, a big if.
Editor's note: This article was written partly based on content from the "Shocked" podcast, which was created by a team including experts at the University of Chicago's Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and producers at Magnificent Noise. Amy is also the institute's inaugural journalism fellow.
