China Leads the Way in EV Battery Technology

China Leads the Way in EV Battery Technology

EVs are a hot technology, but it takes advanced batteries to turn them into the energy vehicles that will repower the world.china ev battery technology In Changsha, a city in central China, chemists and engineers are forming the future of battery innovation. Across the country, factories mix minerals into the power cells that will replace fossil fuels. China dominates the chemicals and raw materials needed for electric vehicles, and is poised to control the next big advancement in rechargeable batteries: ones that use sodium instead of lithium.

China’s EV boom is partly a result of government policies that have boosted industry for more than a decade.china ev battery technology In 2001, the state established EV development as one of its top science research projects in the country’s highest-level economic plan, the Five-Year Plan. Since then, China has closed the gap with Japan and the US, in terms of EV production and battery performance.

In fact, according to a report last year by the consultancy Rhodium Group, Chinese companies have grabbed nearly two-thirds of global production capacity for lithium-ion (LIB) batteries.china ev battery technology In addition to a massive supply of low-cost labor, the Chinese government has given battery makers special tax incentives that aren’t available to foreign competitors.

As the market for EVs grows, however, these government subsidies are coming under fire.china ev battery technology Some politicians have begun to question the wisdom of using taxpayer money to support a business that will make cars more expensive for consumers. In response, Washington is limiting the eligibility of EV buyers for federal tax credits if their vehicles are made with Chinese batteries. The move will affect automakers like Ford, which has a licensing agreement with the Chinese EV battery giant CATL.

Even so, it will take between five and 10 years for the US to catch up with China in EV battery production. That may be too late to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of EVs making up two-thirds of new car sales by 2032. Batteries make up 40-60% of the cost of an EV, so it will be difficult to produce them at a price that makes them competitive with traditional cars. And while the US has some domestic EV battery producers, it’s not clear whether any will be able to scale up quickly enough to compete with CATL and its peers.