A startling new development in battery technology underscores why John Kerry is right that the US needs to cooperate with China on combating the climate crisis. The Washington Blob, the combination of lobbyists, permanent bureaucrats, national security professionals and think tanks, is always looking for an enemy to demonize. China is now being marked as a demon du jour inside the Beltway. There isn’t any doubt that the US has significant policy differences with Beijing. There is no reason, however, to allow those differences to be unnecessarily militarized. Moreover, there is no reason to allow differences in some areas to forestall cooperation in others.
The Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.( CATL) announced at the Shanghai auto show a few days ago that it has succeeded in developing a whole new kind of battery for EVs and even airplanes, which is twice as efficient as our current lithium ion batteries. The new battery is a sodium ion technology, different from the reigning lithium ion battery that fuels most electric cars. If the new battery performs as advertised, it is potentially a huge game changer in electrification.
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