Reshoring the Battery Materials Supply Chain with Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra

Controlling the battery supply chain is quickly becoming a matter of high geopolitical importance as countries scramble to ensure they can meet future demand. For years, the US Department of Energy has been sounding the alarm about the need to reshore battery manufacturing — and to remove the dependency on cobalt in particular.

Enter Sanjiv Malhotra, a successful energy entrepreneur that joined the US Department of Energy as the inaugural director of the Energy Investor Center after the successful exit of his company Oorja Protonics in 2014. After surveying the global energy technology landscape from this position at DOE, Sanjiv became convinced that reshoring the battery supply chain was a generational opportunity: he left the DOE in 2019 to found Sparkz, Inc., where he now serves as CEO.

Sparkz is moving quickly: already, they are setting up gigafactories in West Virginia and California of a cobalt-free lithium battery design using technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Sparkz is even partnering with United Mine Workers to recruit, train, and hire displaced coal miners at their West Virginia facility.

So: what are the pressing challenges that must be overcome for the US to control its battery manufacturing destiny? Find out in Aionics Fortnightly Episode 30 with Sanjiv Malhotra. And, as always, bring your questions!