US Government Says Relying on Chinese Lithium Batteries Is Too Risky

Analysts astatine the US Department of Homeland Security shared an interior study to section agencies successful August, informing them astir the economical risks of utilizing Chinese inferior retention batteries. It warns that the dependence connected Chinese batteries could wounded processing a unafraid proviso concatenation successful the US.

The document, archetypal obtained by nationalist information transparency nonprofit Property of the People and seen by WIRED, accuses Chinese companies of “using People’s Republic of China authorities enactment to rapidly and cheaply participate the emerging US inferior artillery vigor retention manufacture and make proviso concatenation dependencies connected China,” and asks that immoderate suspicious enactment beryllium reported.

Specifically, the study alleges 3 companies—Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), Build Your Dreams (BYD), and Ruipu Energy Co. Ltd. (REPT)—have “benefited from the assorted forms of authorities enactment and leveraged this to further concern strategies for gaining US marketplace share.”

Currently, CATL and BYD pb the planetary vigor retention artillery marketplace by far, with 40 percent and 12 percent marketplace shares, respectively, according to South Korean vigor probe steadfast SNE Research. Eight retired of the 10 apical companies successful the manufacture are from China, truthful determination are fewer alternatives to crook to erstwhile gathering grid storage.

The study says it builds connected erstwhile documents that analyzed Chinese “state-supported firms’ usage of noncompetitive tactics successful the electrical conveyance and artillery proviso chains.” DHS did not respond to a petition for further comment.

In 2022, CATL entered a woody with Primergy Solar to physique the largest US star and retention task successful Nevada, which came online this year. Its artillery products person besides been utilized by Duke Energy, a North Carolina–based inferior company, though the second dropped CATL arsenic a supplier for marine basal energy storage aft concerns astir nationalist information were raised by, successful part, lawmakers successful Washington.

In an emailed statement, Fred Zhang, a CATL spokesperson, rejects the categorization that the steadfast has relied connected authorities enactment to summation an edge. “CATL has achieved tremendous maturation done continuous innovation, farsighted strategical planning, and a committedness to high-quality products astatine a tenable cost,” the connection says.

BYD and REPT did not reply to WIRED’s petition for comment.

Following efforts to curb Chinese EV companies’ competitiveness, the US authorities is present besides acrophobic astir however home inferior companies could go excessively babelike connected Chinese batteries for vigor storage.