This GM-Backed Startup Could Upend All You Know About Lithium

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Now, on to today's piece:  

This GM-Backed Startup Could Upend Everything You Know About Lithium

In war, armies seek to command the high ground. In the current global electric vehicle war, that aspirational summit is the solid-state lithium metal battery, a lightweight, energy-dense, next-generation technology that, if it works, could make 500 miles of range a routine feature of EVs—far more than today’s typical 250 to 300 miles. From the U.S., to Europe, Japan and China, virtually every major automaker on the planet is scrambling to scale up such batteries in the belief that their capabilities could win over consumers to electric SUVs, pickups and luxury sedans, the vehicles on which they earn the most profit.

But the war isn’t playing out as many expected: An overlooked faction has spurned the exacting solid-state effort altogether, and is instead developing a surprising alternative that bucks the battery establishment. There are good reasons for taking this unconventional group seriously.