The Electric: A Driving Range Booster, Silicon May Also Ease China’s Iron Grip

Chinese companies dominate the processing of virtually every metal in an electric vehicle battery and make more batteries and EVs than anyone. But in no area of the battery and EV industries are they more dominant than in the production and processing of graphite, a material used in every commercial EV battery anode on the planet. China produces virtually all the world’s battery-grade processed natural graphite. That became an issue in December, when Beijing imposed export controls on the material, and overseas shipment of graphite from China dropped by more than 90%. But another material—silicon—now offers a way to weaken China’s grip on anodes.