Charged up: Batteries are the next target in China's clean-energy conquest

Charged up: Batteries are the next target in China’s clean-energy conquest

- Justin Worland

CLEAN-ENERGY PROMOTERS HAILED TESLA’S ANNOUNCEment of plans for a Nevada “gigafactory”—a reference to the unit for measuring energy storage—back in 2014 as the dawn of a new American industry. The $5 billion facility would eventually produce millions of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles as well as energy storage on the grid.

But behind the headlines, leading battery researchers and entrepreneurs say the gigafactory represents an exception to the rule in the fast-growing global industry for lithium-ion batteries. No matter what Tesla has planned, the U.S. is set to lag China in the battery race if current trends continue.

Instead of manufacturing in America, entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to China to turn cutting-edge battery research into reality. The country is expected to capture 65% of the battery market by 2021, with much of what remains left for Europe, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“In 10 years China owns lithium-ion batteries,” says Matthew Nordan, managing director of MNL Partners, an energy project development firm. “The vast majority of volume—and the vast majority of profit making—is likely to be in China.”