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Why did the U.S. miss the battery revolution?

We were early to the party on every other technological revolution, but we missed this one.

They’re a key part of a larger, more general revolution: the replacement of controlled combustion with electricity as the main way that human beings produce energy and move it around. Much has been made of Taiwan’s dominance of semiconductor fabrication in recent years, but the U.S. still holds the pole position in research, design, and many key areas of tool manufacturing and software. Sam D’Amico of Impulse (the guy who made the super-powered battery stove) argues that A123’s failure, in addition to some other smart bets by Chinese manufacturers, was decisive in China pulling ahead:

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