Should lithium-based batteries be a domestic supply chain?

Establishing a domestic supply chain for lithium-based batteries requires a national commitment to both solving breakthrough scientific challenges for new materials and developing a manufacturing base that meets the demands of the growing electric vehicle (EV) and electrical grid storage markets.

Are lithium-ion batteries critical materials?

Given the reliance on batteries, the electrified transportation and stationary grid storage sectors are dependent on critical materials; today’s lithium-ion batteries include several critical materials, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite.13 Strategic vulnerabilities in these sources are being recognized.

Why are lithium-based batteries important?

Lithium-based batteries power our daily lives from consumer electronics to national defense. They enable electrification of the transportation sector and provide stationary grid storage, critical to developing the clean-energy economy.

Are lithium-based batteries a viable industrial base?

A robust, secure, domestic industrial base for lithium-based batteries requires access to a reliable supply of raw, refined, and processed material inputs along with parallel efforts to develop substitutes that are sustainable and diversify supply from both secondary and unconventional sources.

What makes a strong industrial base for lithium-based batteries?

A robust, secure, domestic industrial base for lithium-based batteries requires access to a reliable supply of raw, refined, and processed material inputs for lithium batteries.

Can a domestic lithium-battery supply chain lead to a zero-carbon energy economy?

Accessed May 27, 2021. Establishing a competitive and equitable domestic lithium-battery supply chain in an accelerating EV and grid storage market is only one phase of a global surge toward higher performance and lower costs as part of a new zero-carbon energy economy.