Two Democratic senators encouraged the United States to “become a leader” in next-generation battery making.
According to Reuters, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner and Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin sent a letter to the Energy Department. Calling for faster development, more manufacturing, and securing supply chains.
The lawmakers wrote that the United States is “ten to twenty years behind Asia.”
Noting that China accounts for more than 75 percent of battery cell production.
They also cited Beijing’s decision to restrict graphite exports last month. The material is critical to manufacturing battery anodes.
The Pentagon has said lithium-ion batteries are essential to thousands of military systems from “handheld radios, to unmanned submersibles and to future capabilities like lasers, directed energy weapons and hybrid electric tactical vehicles.”
The letter calls for a committee briefing on the matter by Dec. 1st.