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US Government Says Relying on Chinese Lithium Batteries Is Too Risky
A new document shows the Department of Homeland Security is concerned that Chinese investment in lithium batteries to power energy grids will make them a threat to US supply chain security.
Specifically, the report alleges three companies—Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), Build Your Dreams (BYD), and Ruipu Energy Co. Ltd. (REPT)—have “benefited from the various forms of state support and leveraged this to further business strategies for gaining US market share.” Its battery products have also been used by Duke Energy, a North Carolina–based utility company, although the latter dropped CATL as a supplier for marine base electricity storage after concerns around national security were raised by, in part, lawmakers in Washington. “It is simplistic to see this as just unfair competition due to Chinese government support, as a lot of what China did, such as creating demand for batteries through EV subsidies, is not unlike what we see in the West today,” says Yayoi Sekine, head of energy storage research at BloombergNEF.
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