A Lithium startup is building a US battery plant that will skirt Trump's tariffs
US startup
Pure Lithium
Corp. is working on a testing facility to build a new type of
lithium
battery that's completely manufactured domestically.
The company has developed a lithium metal battery that Chief Executive Officer
Emilie Bodoin
says will displace lithium-ion batteries. Pure Lithium has spent the last four years doing research and development on the technology, which could be used in electric vehicles, utility-scale energy storage and other applications.
'We're working as hard as we can to build a prototype pilot facility,' Bodoin said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. She added that the company is expanding its lithium production process and is integrating that into a manufacturing plant, 'and as soon as we get it up and running we're going to start getting these batteries out into the hands of US customers that need it.'
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The Boston-based company's move to build a pilot plant comes as President
Donald Trump
's administration sets the stage for tariffs on imports of key battery components from China. Pure Lithium says it extracts lithium from brine to manufacture a battery free of graphite, nickel, cobalt and manganese, allowing it to be produced without any inputs from China.
The company received a letter of interest from the US Export-Import Bank in April for financing of as much as $300 million.
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It's a defining moment in the battle for the future of the internet. This article was originally published on The Conversation. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. 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