#ev-manufacturing

#ev-manufacturing

China controls the overwhelming majority of global rare earth processing capacity, a figure that has remained structurally stable for nearly two decades despite sustained Western policy attention. The problem has never been geology. It's always been industrial chemistry at scale.

Sila, the battery materials startup, started operations Tuesday at its facility in Moses Lake, Washington. The factory, which will initially be capable of making enough battery materials for 20,000 to 50,000 EVs, is the first large-scale silicon anode factory in the West, and future expansion could fulfill demand for as many as 2.5 million vehicles. Silicon anodes promise to improve the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by as much as 50%. The technology, which Sila has been working on for the past 14 years, could be the best chance for the U.S. to gain the upper hand in a global race for battery supremacy, Sila co-founder and CEO Gene Berdichevsky argues.

I'm sure that's not a universal opinion, of course. But I met several people who said they think highly of the U.S. as the friends who came to their rescue during their devastating civil war, as a crucial trading partner, and as an ally they're glad has their collective backs with China right in their backyard. I have to imagine their view of the U.S. is one of bewilderment today.

In 2025, 1 in 4 new automotive vehicle sales globally are expected to be an electric vehicle -either fully electric or a plug-in hybrid. That is a significant rise from just five years ago, when EV sales amounted to fewer than 1 in 20 new car sales, according to the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization examining energy use around the world. In the U.S., however, EV sales have lagged, only reaching 1 in 10 in 2024. By contrast, in China, the world's largest car market, more than half of all new vehicle sales are electric.