The history of battery science is filled with short circuits, explosions—and, occasionally, tales of redemption. One of these is the story of the lithium-iron-phosphate battery.
Automakers can have some say over which materials are important by choosing which cathodes end up in their cars. But the trade-offs can be tricky to navigate, Srinivasan says, and even small changes in cathode chemistry can mean a radically different supply chain. Pushing for lower-cobalt batteries often means more demand for nickel, for example. It may also require an entirely new lithium supply chain because of the way the new material is manufactured.
A popular choice for US automakers facing materials constraints are those high-nickel, low-cobalt cathodes because they allow automakers to pack more range into vehicle batteries than switching to LFP would. “When it comes to energy density, there's no better metal than nickel,” says Alan Nelson, Redwood’s senior vice president for battery materials.
China’s demand advantage is especially true for shorter-range cars that use LFP batteries, says Nikos Tsafos, an energy and geopolitics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the US could make up that gap, he suggests. If the Biden administration has a strategic goal of reducing US dependence on cobalt and nickel, perhaps it should do more to encourage that. Maybe cars with LFP batteries should come with a sweeter tax credit for buyers.
The US could also work to avoid another miss on emerging technology. Srinivasan of Li-Bridge points out that the US leads on research into new technologies like
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