Piedmont
The battery supply chain is expected to grow with the new demand for EVs.
Lithium, the key material in most EV batteries, has gotten expensive and difficult to mine.
Piedmont is one startup rethinking how to mine lithium and make batteries.
As the world prepares for the coming wave of electric vehicles and automakers hunt for affordable materials to deliver them, the competition in the battery market and its supply chain is heating up.
Much of the firepower is focused on lithium. The metal is a primary material in EV batteries, but comes with a host of problems. It can be dangerous and environmentally harmful to mine. Digging it up has negative socio-economic repercussions in the most lithium-rich places like Chile, Argentina, and Australia. Moreover, the mining process can be quite expensive, especially when the distance between the mines and the battery-makers spans over oceans.