🚨 THREAD: Can the West finally break China’s chokehold on batteries?
New battery tech just took a major leap forward—and it could mean the end of China’s monopoly over EVs, drones, and even national defense.
Here’s what’s happening (and what it means for America) 🧵
2/ For 30 years, China has dominated every piece of the battery supply chain:
🔋 90%+ of battery-grade lithium
🔋 70% of cobalt processing
🔋 75% of graphite
🔋 100% of Communist Party control
It’s a stranglehold. And it’s national suicide to rely on it.
3/ But that’s changing.
American startups are now leapfrogging China’s dominance by replacing rare, China-controlled minerals like cobalt and nickel with abundant Western materials like sulfur.
Yes, sulfur—the 10th most common element in the universe.
4/ Companies like Lyten (Silicon Valley) and Pure Lithium (Boston) are building lithium-sulfur batteries using:
✅ U.S.-sourced lithium metal
✅ Zero cobalt or nickel
✅ No graphite from China
✅ 100% compatible with existing battery factories
This is a game-changer.
5/ Why does it matter?
Because lithium-sulfur batteries don’t just cut China out—they perform better.
They’re lighter, safer, cheaper, and don’t depend on slave-labor cobalt from Congo.
That means better EVs. Better drones. Better defense systems. All made in the USA.
6/ China knows this.
In fact, Beijing cut off Skydio, America’s biggest drone maker, by banning battery exports to them earlier this year.
That’s not business. That’s warfare.
And we’ve let them hold that weapon for decades.
7/ But the shift is real.
🇺🇸 Lyten is already producing U.S.-made battery-grade lithium.
🇺🇸 Pure Lithium says all its materials are North American.
🇭🇺 Hungary and 🇰🇷 Korea may also leapfrog China in lithium-ion by 2030.
The West is finally fighting back.
8/ But some UK startups like Volklec are now licensing Chinese tech to survive—letting Chinese companies into taxpayer-funded battery plants.
Instead of competing with China, they’re surrendering to it.
Unacceptable.
9/ The answer?
✅ Back U.S. firms leapfrogging China
✅ Reshore strategic production
✅ Deny China access to Western tech and resources
✅ Kill green central planning that picks losers
✅ Let the market build the future—with teeth
10/ One more thing:
🇨🇳 China sells its batteries to the U.S. cheaper than to anyone else.
That’s not generosity. It’s dumping—meant to kill U.S. producers and capture the market.
We’ve seen this story before. Time to end it.
11/ The West CAN win.
We don’t need to match China at slave-labor prices. We need to beat them with American ingenuity, fair rules, and hard red lines on national security.
New battery tech is coming. But we better have the spine to back it.
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