The NAATBatt Blog
Commentary by the Executive Director and Members of NAATBatt International
In Defense of US Fuel Economy Standards
I had dinner recently with a friend who is a money manager. He told me that he planned to buy stock in a major automobile company. He said that the stock had earnings of $2.00 per share. But that was because the company was making $3.00 per share on its sale of gasoline-powered cars and losing $1.00 per share on its sales of electric vehicles. With the incoming Trump [...]
The Advanced Battery Industry on the Day After
The 2024 general election is mercifully over. Many in the advanced battery, renewable energy and electric vehicle industries are apprehensive about the result to say the least. While some apprehension is warranted, it is important to keep a few of things in mind. First is that advanced batteries and electric vehicles are not the product of government policy. They are the product of fundamental changes in energy and automotive technologies [...]
New Li-Bridge Initiative on Tracking and Tracing Lithium Batteries
On August 29, I had the pleasure of participating in the fifth government-industry forum of the Li-Bridge project at Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago. The forum sought to collect information and opinions from leading private companies and government agencies on various schemes that have been proposed to track and trace the contents and performance attributes of high capacity lithium-based batteries over their lifetime use in commerce. The best known of [...]
We Need a New Approach to China
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of extending an invitation to Robin Zeng Yuqun, the Chairman of CATL, to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of NAATBatt International in Detroit next October. CATL is a longtime NAATBatt member and the largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries in the world. This week I was informed that Mr. Zeng would be unable to attend because of geopolitical issues. NAATBatt’s core [...]
Lithium Battery Recycling Workshop VII Agenda to Debut Soon
NAATBatt will hold the NAATBatt Lithium Battery Recycling Workshop VII in Montreal, Quebec on August 7-9, 2024. The workshop will be NAATBatt’s seventh annual look at the opportunities and challenges of creating circularity in the supply chain of lithium-based batteries. Several factors will make the workshop unique. First and foremost, the workshop will be the first conference that NAATBatt hosts in Canada. The organizational mission of NAATBatt focuses on the [...]
In Memory of Ralph J. Brodd
Last month, the lithium battery industry lost another giant: Ralph J. Brodd. Ralph had not been active in the battery industry for several years. As a result his name may not be familiar to many who entered the industry during that time. But Ralph may be one of the most consequential figures in the history of advanced battery technology in the United States. Ralph’s resume reads like a laundry list [...]
The Blessing of Chinese Graphite Export Restrictions
On October 20, 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that it would restrict the export of the types of graphite used in military and EV applications. Today China is the source of 60% of all natural graphite production and 90% of all synthetic graphite production. News of the Chinese move sent shockwaves through the EV community and probably through the U.S. military as well. Lithium-ion batteries used in EV’s [...]
Remarks of Jim Greenberger, Executive Director of NAATBatt, to the Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry & Clean Energy Partnership Meeting, April 25, 2023
Good afternoon, Minister Lee, dear colleagues and new friends. My name is Jim Greenberger and I am the Executive Director of NAATBatt International. NAATBatt is an association of more than 300 companies and research institutions working to support the development, commercialization and manufacture of advanced battery technology in the North American market. I am pleased to report that earlier this morning NAATBatt entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with three [...]
Li-Bridge and the Age of Electricity
Good morning and good afternoon to those of you around the world who are joining this program. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. The purpose of my talk is to introduce you to the Li-Bridge initiative. The Li-Bridge initiative is a public-private effort to develop a strategy for the United States [...]
Member Update Presentations Announced
NAATBatt 2022, the 13th annual meeting and conference of the NAATBatt International organization, will be held on February 7-10, 2022. Notwithstanding Covid, registration numbers for the meeting are well in excess of what NAATBatt has seen for any past program. The NAATBatt hotel block is already sold out and we are having to give serious consideration to closing registration for the entire program due to size limitations of the venue. [...]
Looking Ahead to NAATBatt 2022
As NAATBatt members know, NAATBatt 2022, the thirteenth annual meeting and conference of the NAATBatt International organization, will be held at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park (Phoenix), Arizona on February 7-10, 2022. Details about the program can be seen here. The program of the meeting continues to develop. Monday will be the golf and tennis tournaments and tournament dinner. Tuesday will see meetings of the Battery Recycling Committee, the [...]
NAATBatt Publishes Database of the North American Lithium-Ion Supply Chain
On September 15, 2021, NAATBatt International released its database of companies active in the North American lithium-ion battery supply chain. The database is the culmination of several months work by three NAATBatt committees—the Manufacturing in North America Committee, the Battery Recycling Committee and the Battery Markets Committee—and extensive work by a team at NREL working under contract with NAATBatt. The database can be seen at: https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/li-ion-battery-supply-chain-database.html. The database is [...]
Get Ready to See the Database
One of NAATBatt’s most significant accomplishments in 2021 will be the publication of the North American Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain Database. The Database will provide a directory of all companies in North America that participate in any significant element of the lithium-ion battery supply chain and have a manufacturing facility or employ more than 10 people in North America. A team at NREL led by Dr. Ahmad Pesaran is currently [...]
The Importance of Consumer Incentives for Electric Vehicles
On August 5, 2021, the White House announced that President Biden will sign an Executive Order that sets an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles. President Biden was joined in the announcement by executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, which have separately announced that 40%-50% of their vehicle sales [...]
NAATBatt Statement on the White House’s 100-Day Supply Chain Review for Large Capacity Batteries
NAATBatt International applauds the release of the White House's 100-Day Review under Executive Order 14017 of the domestic supply chain for large capacity batteries (see: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/100-day-supply-chain-review-report.pdf). The Review’s recommendations for building domestic demand for large capacity batteries, investing in the extraction and refining of energy materials, supporting private investment in cell and cell component manufacturing, encouraging battery recycling and doubling-down on next generation battery R&D are spot on. If [...]
The Challenge of Building a Lithium Battery Supply Chain in North America
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to speak this morning to the Hamilton Commission. My name is Jim Greenberger and I am the Executive Director and founder of NAATBatt International, the trade association of developers, manufacturers and users of advanced battery technology in North America. Since 2008, NAATBatt’s mission has been to promote the use and manufacture of advanced batteries in the United States and [...]
Why Batteries are Important to America
Good afternoon. My name is Jim Greenberger and I am the Executive Director and founder of NAATBatt International, the trade association for developers, manufacturers and users of advanced battery technology in North America. Since 2008, NAATBatt’s mission has been to promote the manufacture of advanced batteries in the United States and the growth of the good American jobs that manufacturing will create. Today, NAATBatt has 162 corporate and institutional members [...]
Re-Thinking Energy Security and Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium battery technology will be one of the most important technologies of the 21st Century. That is not because there is anything special about batteries. Battery technology has been known to man for 2,000 years. But the development of batteries based on the lithium atom, the fourth lightest element in the universe, has made batteries a critical, strategic technology. The significance of the light weight, high energy lithium-ion battery [...]
NAATBatt 2021 Suggests a Three-Part Plan for Building an Advanced Battery Industry in North America
NAATBatt 2021 concluded on Thursday, February 11. It was the first, and hopefully the last, virtual annual meeting of the NAATBatt International organization. By the standards of expectation, the meeting was a great success. NAATBatt 2021 managed to incorporate the usual high-quality content of past NAATBatt annual meetings despite the disadvantage of its virtual format. Most remarkable was the success of the networking sessions: the on-line breakfast table discussions and [...]
What to Expect at NAATBatt in 2021
NAATBatt International is looking forward to a busy and exciting 2021. This year should see continued interest by the capital markets in advanced battery technology. It should see renewed government interest in promoting the manufacture of advanced batteries in the United States. And it should see continued growth of the electric transportation and stationary energy storage markets, which promise to be the largest consumers of advanced battery technology for the [...]
The Conundrum of the North American Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain
Electricity unattached to the grid will power the technologies that shape the 21st Century. Unless and until fuel cells, green hydrogen and other electricity micro-generation technologies mature, advanced batteries, and in particular lithium-ion batteries, are likely to be the source of much of that power. Where those batteries are made and who makes them matters. Ensuring adequate supplies of lithium-ion batteries will be an important national security issue. Lithium-ion batteries [...]
Battery Day and the North American Lithium-ion Supply Chain
Tesla’s Battery Day on September 22 did not disappoint. Whether you came away encouraged (as did many EV enthusiasts) or disappointed (as did the stock market), Elon and the gang provided ample content for the advanced battery community to dissect and debate for the next six months. For me, the most noteworthy content was not the technical detail of where Tesla is going with its battery technology. The move to [...]
Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries is an Inadequate First Step
On Thursday, September 10, the Advanced Manufacturing Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the creation of the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB) to accelerate development of a domestic industrial base for advanced batteries. The FCAB is part of the strategy outlined in the DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC) Draft Roadmap, an initiative that started earlier this year. Although the FCAB announcement is light on [...]
Recycling Workshop a Virtual Success
NAATBatt held its third annual Workshop on Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries on Tuesday, July 14. Because of the Covid situation, NAATBatt was forced to hold the workshop as a webinar rather than as a live event. I was unsure exactly how that was going to work out. In fact, the virtual workshop worked better than I expected and far better than I had feared. 185 people registered to attend this [...]
What Makes Certain Goods Strategic?
Interest in revitalizing U.S. manufacturing combined with COVID-19 supply chain disruptions is driving new action in Washington to support strategic industries and protect strategic supply chains. The Wall Street Journal recently reported Intel’s offer to partner with the Pentagon in building a silicon chip foundry in the United States. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. just announced plans to build a chip factory in Arizona based on unspecified incentives from the [...]
Time for NAATBatt 2.0?
Twelve years ago a group of U.S. businessmen and battery experts came together to create a consortium to make sure that American companies would be an important force in the global competition to dominate lithium-ion battery manufacturing. The founders named the consortium “NAATBatt”, at the time an acronym for National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries. The idea behind NAATBatt was based on the SEMATECH consortium founded by leading companies [...]
Time for a Grand Bargain?
As the Covid-19 crisis grabs headlines in most of the United States, it is important to appreciate that for a good part of the U.S. oil patch, COVID-19 is second page news. First page news is the collapse of worldwide oil prices. The price of West Texas Intermediate Crude closed this week at $22.76 per barrel. This is nothing short of a disaster for the U.S. petroleum industry and [...]
The Next Stimulus Package Should Focus on Lithium Battery Infrastructure
During a recent telephone meeting of the NAATBatt Strategic Planning Committee, one committee member noted that the next stage of the COVID-19 stimulus package was likely to include investments in national transportation infrastructure. The committee member suggested that NAATBatt advocate for allocating part of those new investment to building up the lithium battery supply chain in the United States. I have argued in this column on many occasions that [...]
Are Lithium-Ion Batteries a Strategic Technology?
One of the most interesting sessions during the NAATBatt 2020 annual meeting was the Industry Leaders Roundtable: How To Make the U.S. a Leader in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing. The session featured a discussion among government and industry leaders in energy storage about what the United States might do better to support the domestic manufacturing of lithium-ion battery cells. The panelists generally agreed on a number of points: that building [...]
NAATBatt 2020 is a Great Success
NAATBatt 2020, the 11th annual meeting and conference of the NAATBatt International organization, concluded on Thursday of this week. To say that NAATBatt 2020 was NAATBatt’s biggest and best program yet would not be hyperbole: it is an undeniable fact. NAATBatt 2020 had almost 300 attendees, nearly 20 exhibitors and over 80 e-minute “flash” presentations by NAATBatt member firms, jury-selected emerging companies and winners of the Department of Energy’s Phase [...]
Member Update Presentations to Headline NAATBatt 2020
NAATBatt 2020 will be held on February 10-13, 2020, in Pasadena, California. It will be the 11th annual meeting of the NAATBatt International organization, which dates from 2008. For all of those years I have struggled with the question of why NAATBatt should have an annual meeting at all? Trade shows are a big business. You can go to a battery, electric drive or energy storage-focused trade show somewhere [...]
The Fourth Decade of the Advanced Battery Era
Every New Year invites predictions about what the next year holds. One in every ten New Years invites predictions about the next decade. 2020 is one of those New Years. The 2020’s will mark the fourth decade of the advanced battery era, taking as its start the introduction of the first lithium-ion battery into commerce in 1991. The third decade ended on a high note, with the Nobel Committee [...]
What Should the United States Do to Regain Leadership in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing? — by Dr. George Crabtree
by Dr. George Crabtree Director, Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Argonne National Laboratory Dr. George Crabtree Here is an optimistic perspective: the U.S. or Europe can regain a competitive and perhaps a leading position in lithium-ion battery manufacturing with no significant change in battery chemistry. Two facts support this optimism. First, 15 years ago China had little or no footprint in [...]
What Should the United States Do to Regain Leadership in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing? — by Dave Roberts
by Dave Roberts Chief Innovation Officer of the State of Indiana Vice President of NAATBatt International Dave Roberts As innovative advancements commercialize disruptive technologies that will forever change the way move, communicate, and buy our free-range turkeys from a farm within ten miles, a natural question is where the enabling technology was made and how secure is it. Without disrespect [...]
What Should the United States Do to Regain Leadership in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing?
by Jaime Navarrete Director Product Development Crown Battery Jaime Navarrete The question is misleading as the United States never had leadership in Lion battery manufacturing. Around 2008 the federal government used public money into subsidizing buildup of local manufacturing of large format Lion batteries. But, a market for the capacity that was built never appeared. Building plants with limited commercial market [...]
What Should the United States Do to Regain Leadership in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing?
Lithium-ion battery technology is one of the most important technologies of the 21st Century. As vehicle fleets around the world electrify, lithium-ion batteries will become the new oil. The companies and countries that dominate the development and manufacture of lithium-ion batteries are set to dominate the global vehicle industries of the next 50-100 years. The importance of lithium-ion technology, however, goes well beyond cars. Most of the technologies that will [...]
Congratulations to the 2019 Nobel Prize Laureates!
The officers and members of NAATBatt International offer their heartiest congratulations to the three winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Prof. John B. Goodenough, Prof. Akira Yoshino, and the Chief Science Officer of NAATBatt International, Prof. M. Stanley Whittingham. The 2019 prize recognizes Profs. Goodenough, Yoshino and Whittingham for their discovery and development of lithium-ion battery technology. This recognition is long overdue. The battery technology these gentlemen invented [...]
Executive Director James Greenberger Answers Supplemental Questions from Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
ANSWERS BY JAMES J. GREENBERGER TO SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS FROM U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS August 19, 2019 Chairman Barrasso: 1. Looking forward, what can we learn from the successes of lead-acid battery recycling if we were to apply a similar framework to lithium-ion batteries? Efforts to recycle lead-acid batteries, particularly those used as SLI (starter, lighting and ignition) batteries in automobiles, have been very successful. Approximately [...]
Testimony to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
I had the honor of testifying on July 17 before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the subject of lithium-ion battery recycling in the United States. The Senate's interest in the topic is timely, given NAATBatt's just ended workshop on the same subject in Buffalo, New York. A copy of my oral testimony is reproduced below. The longer and more detailed written version of my testimony [...]
Interest in Workshop on Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Exceeds Expectations
This past week in Buffalo, New York, NAATBatt hosted a Workshop on Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling. The purpose of the workshop was to focus industry attention on the next great challenge in vehicle electrification: safely, responsibly and profitably disposing of lithium-ion batteries at the end of their useful lives. Today lithium-ion batteries reaching the end of their useful lives are not being recycled in any significant quantities in North America. The [...]
Recycling Workshop Highlights the Importance of Recycling EV Batteries
The NAATBatt Workshop on Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling, on July 9-10, 2019, in Buffalo, New York, will take an in depth look at one of the most important issues in vehicle electrification: recycling lithium-ion batteries. The program will look at four major problems in lithium-ion battery recycling: collection of batteries, separation and sorting, transportation and storage, and recycling technologies. Each of these four problems needs better solutions than those available [...]
Powering the Future: Has Battery Technology Reach Its Peak?
Have battery-powered vehicles reached the tipping point – and what does that mean for the rest of the industry? The electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery industry have been known for having fits and starts over the years, with periods of major interest and investment followed by periods of consolidation and bankruptcy. In fact, in the late 1800s in both Europe and the United States, there was a virtual flood [...]
Testimony Before the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission
On June 7, 2019, I had the privilege of testifying in Washington, D.C. before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on the subject of China's growing dominance of lithium-ion battery manufacturing. The written statement that accompanied my testimony is reproduced below: Introduction My name is James Greenberger and I am the Executive Director of NAATBatt International. NAATBatt is a trade association of advanced battery manufacturers and their supply chain [...]
Understanding Energy Materials Supply Constraints in North America
There has been a lot of recent talk about shortages of energy materials (i.e., lithium, hi-grade nickel and cobalt) imperiling the future of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in North America. While much of that talk is sensationalized (we are not about to run out of lithium in the world), the United States’ failure to invest in stabilizing sources of energy material supply may put the United States at a long [...]
A Sobering Reminder of the Battery Safety Challenge
NAATBatt International was shaken by news of the fire and explosion last week at Arizona Public Service’s McMicken Energy Storage facility in Surprise, Arizona. Four firefighters were hurt in the explosion, two of them seriously. First and foremost our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their families. The McMicken incident hit particularly close to home for NAATBatt. A little more than five weeks ago, NAATBatt members toured [...]
The U.S. Needs a Strategic Plan to Avoid an Energy Materials Shock
The push for vehicle electrification in the early part of the 21st Century initially came, not from concerns about climate change, but from concerns that the U.S. economy was becoming dangerously dependent upon a single natural resource (petroleum), the supply of which forces outside the United States could disrupt. As vehicle electrification moves from theory to reality, it is important that the United States not repeat past mistakes and [...]
March 15, 2019 Vol. 10, No. 11
NAATBatt Member News NAATBatt Announcements NAATBatt 2019, the 10th Annual Meeting of NAATBatt International, was held this past week in Litchfield Park (Phoenix), Arizona. With 250 attendes and over 120 speakers, NAATBatt 2019 was the most successful annual meeting and conference of the NAATBatt International organization to date. Speaker presentations from NAATBatt 2019, containing the latest data about the advanced battery and materials markets and the latest information about [...]
March 8, 2019 Vol. 10, No. 10
NAATBatt Member News NAATBatt Announcements NAATBatt 2019, the 10th Annual Meeting ofNAATBatt International, starts next week in Phoenix, Arizona. NAATBatt 2019 is the top thought leadership program on the North American advanced batteryindustry, examining trends in advanced batterytechnology bringing together the top battery and energy storage industry executives to network and do deals. Last chance to attend! Register Now! Member Update Presentation speaking time slots have been assigned for NAATBatt 2019. At NAATBattannual meetings, every NAATBatt member has the opportunity to make a short presentation about what it [...]
March 1, 2019 Vol. 10, No. 9
NAATBatt Member News NAATBatt Announcements Less than two weeks to go until NAATBatt 2019, the 10th Annual Meeting of NAATBatt International, on March 11-14, 2019, at The Wigwam resort outside Phoenix, Arizona. With more than 120 speakers,NAATBatt 2019 will be the top thought leadership program in the North American advanced batteryindustry in 2019. Don't miss the chance to learn about the newest trends in advanced battery technology and to network with the leaders in the advanced batteryindustry. Space is limited. Register [...]
February 22, 2019 Vol. 10, No. 8
NAATBatt Member News NAATBatt Announcements NAATBatt 2019, the 10th Annual Meeting of NAATBatt International, will be held on March 11-14, 2019, at The Wigwam resort outside Phoenix, Arizona. The advancedbattery industry has seen huge changes over the past 10 years. NAATBatt 2019 provides an unparalleled assessment of where the industry and the technology ofadvanced battery systems are today, and explores new markets and new opportunities for advanced batterytechnology in the future. As always, the NAATBatt annual meeting [...]