Can ‘BattMan’ secure the US battery manufacturing supply chain?

The Energy Department’s Battery Manufacturing Accelerator aims to plug gaps in domestic material and component supplies over the next few years as U.S. battery demand looks set to quadruple.

A secure, scaled-up domestic battery supply chain is critical for U.S. economic growth and security in the years ahead, DOE said in the white paper, “A National Strategy for American Leadership in Batteries.”

For utilities, batteries are increasingly indispensable for improving grid reliability and shifting load, particularly in regions where data center loads threaten to disrupt power flows, DOE said in the paper. Data centers themselves could account for one-quarter of total U.S. battery demand by 2030, according to a Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecast cited in the paper.

The U.S. today is heavily dependent on external trade partners — particularly China — for battery materials and components, which “poses substantial supply chain risks,” DOE said in the paper.

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