US on Low Battery 🪫

Garages have always held a sacred place in America’s tech lore. With oil, dust, and automobiles, they sometimes housed ambitions. It was in one such small, cramped garage, in 1939, that young engineers Bill Hewlett and David Packard built the legendary Hewlett-Packard, marking the beginning of the story of Silicon Valley.  

Since then, garages have become America’s unlikely birthplace of inventions. Out of them came machines and code that reshaped the world. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, the greatest American companies of our time, all trace back their roots to humble garages.

Natron Energy — the first U.S. company to commercially produce sodium-ion batteries — was also founded in a garage in 2012, but it also survived because of one.

When the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country in 2020, Natron Energy’s engineers suddenly lost access to their laboratory in Santa Clara, but its founder, Colin Wessells, refused to let the research halt. He packed as much equipment as he could into his SUV, drove it home, rebuilt a working lab in his garage, again, and helped the company work on its breakthrough invention.  

Fast-forward to May 2024, and Natron announced plans for a $1.4 billion gigafactory in North Carolina that could produce 24 gigawatt-hours of power by 2028, enough to supply hundreds of thousands of battery systems. It promised to create roughly 1,000 jobs and power applications ranging from data centers to grid-scale energy storage. 

But the dreams short-circuited.

On September 3, 2025, the Santa Clara-based company announced that it was closing its operations and was in the process of liquidating its assets. 

So, what went wrong? How did a pioneering startup with so much promise end up closing its doors?

In this issue of CrossDock, we break down what went wrong at Natron Energy, America’s first sodium-ion battery maker. We also examine the state of U.S. battery manufacturing, how trade policies are shaping it, and the supply chain bottlenecks holding it back. We also take you through China’s continuing dominance in the global battery manufacturing race.

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In 2012, while the world was obsessed with the lithium-ion batteries that powered new iPhones and early electric cars, a Stanford Ph.D. student named Colin Wessells had a different idea. He wanted to build a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. 

Enter sodium-ion batteries. 

Natron's innovation relied on sodium-ion batteries with Prussian blue electrodes. These special electrodes are made from widely available elements like sodium, iron, and manganese, which are much easier to find and less expensive than the rare materials in lithium batteries.

In fact, Natron's decision to use sodium is what makes its technology so special. Unlike lithium, which is a rare earth mineral with a limited global supply, sodium is everywhere — it's in common salt and seawater. This makes it a much more accessible and affordable element for battery production.

It was not just accessibility. Natron's sodium-ion batteries offered more compelling advantages over conventional lithium-ion technology. For example, the company's patented Prussian blue electrodes enabled remarkably fast charging capabilities, with batteries capable of reaching 0-99% state of charge in under 15 minutes. 

The technology also promised to be much more durable. These batteries can handle more than 50,000 charging cycles — that's over ten times the lifespan of a typical lithium-ion battery. 

Interestingly, Natron did not chase the automotive market like other battery makers.

In fact, it was best suited for industrial applications like data centers, microgrids, and EV fast-charging stations. 

Investors didn’t take long to notice. From oil majors to airlines, the lineup was striking: Chevron, United Airlines, and leading venture capitalist firms. It was an unlikely coalition of energy giants and corporate heavyweights, all betting on Natron’s sodium-ion chemistry. 

It also gained the attention of the U.S government. In September 2020, the company was awarded nearly $20 million by the Department of Energy to scale up the production of its sodium-ion batteries and build its supply chain.

By April 2024, Natron launched its first commercial-scale production at its Holland, Michigan, facility, with an annual output of 600 megawatts. And in August 2024, Natron unveiled its most ambitious plan yet: a $1.4 billion investment in a sodium-ion battery gigafactory in North Carolina. 

Natron seemed to have everything going for it — pioneering technology, deep-pocketed investors, and even the blessing of the federal government. Yet, in a twist of irony, those very pillars of support also played a role in its downfall.

Beneath the headlines of big investments and pioneering technology, Natron Energy was battling a regulatory problem that ultimately crippled its plans — it was called the UL certification. 

So, UL certification is a stamp of approval from a third-party organization called Underwriters Laboratories, which tells the world a product has been rigorously tested for safety. And for Natron, this wasn't just a simple box to tick. 

While they had a preliminary certification for their prototype batteries, to actually start shipping products for commercial use, they needed a different, much more comprehensive one — the UL certification for their entire manufacturing facility.

This means the entire process, from the materials to the factory line, had to be inspected and certified.

So why does it take so long? Well, getting UL certified for a new technology is a marathon, not a sprint. The process can take several months to a year, or even longer, especially for something as complex and innovative as a new battery chemistry. It involves a detailed design review, extensive safety testing, and a full audit of the factory to make sure every single component and process meets UL's strict standards. And for a startup like Natron, this delay turned into a devastating roadblock.

Without that crucial UL certification, Natron Energy's Michigan facility was unable to ship a $25 million backlog of orders. This meant that despite having paying customers ready to go, the money never came in, triggering a severe cash crunch. 

But money was only one part of the problem. The other was the lithium price war, which was orchestrated by China. 

For years, Natron had banked on the high cost and volatility of lithium, positioning its sodium-ion batteries as a stable, cheaper alternative. The logic was sound: sodium is everywhere, so its price would never see the wild swings of a rare earth mineral like lithium. 

However, the world of battery raw materials is a cutthroat one that China mercilessly rules. In 2024 and 2025, China, a global leader in lithium processing, flooded the market, causing lithium prices to plummet by over 80% from their 2022 peak. Between early 2023 and 2025, lithium prices crashed from roughly $70,000–$80,000 per ton to around $9,000–$10,000 per ton. 

But how did China do this? It followed the simple rule of supply and demand. 

Chinese producers ramped up lithium output at breakneck speed. New mines, refineries, and processing plants all came online at once, flooding the market with excessive lithium and sending prices tumbling. A case in point: CATL restarted large-scale production at its Yichun complex in Jiangxi, adding thousands of tons of lithium carbonate each month.

But why did China do this? Keeping lithium cheap and abundant lowers Chinese battery makers’ costs, sustaining China’s global price leadership in batteries and helping EV sales at home.

And China’s grip doesn’t end at mining. It controls most of the refining and processing that turn raw lithium into battery-grade chemicals. This combination gives Beijing extraordinary leverage, letting it increase supply or decrease it in the global market almost at will.

The end result? 

Investors lost faith. With $25 million trapped on the factory floor and lithium prices collapsing, Natron’s once-bright pitch no longer looked convincing, and investors froze funding. According to reports from The Information in June 2025, Natron was "pretty much out of cash" and was facing mounting liquidity concerns. 

After nearly 12 years chasing the promise of sodium-ion batteries, Natron’s journey came to an end on September 3, 2025.

Sadly, Natron’s closure is not a one-off event in America’s battery story; in fact, it is turning out to be a trend, and it all comes down to policy.  

Under President Biden, the mandate for U.S. battery manufacturing was driven by a two-pronged strategy. The administration wanted to achieve a concerted effort to end the nation's reliance on China for batteries, while simultaneously igniting a domestic electric vehicle revolution, with the goal of having 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric or hybrid by 2030.

To provide the financial muscle for this ambition, two pieces of legislation were passed: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This legislation offered grants, loans, and tax credits designed to incentivize companies to build out a full domestic battery supply chain, from mining critical minerals to processing, manufacturing, and recycling.

For instance, the IRA provided a $35/kWh tax credit for every U.S.-based battery cell produced. And in 2022, as part of the BIL, the government allocated $2.8 billion to 20 companies across 12 states for battery manufacturing, according to the Department of Energy. 

As a result of new government policies, a massive amount of private money began pouring into battery factories. General Motors, for example, announced a $4 billion investment to retool its factories to expand EV production, in addition to its ongoing work with LG Energy Solution on new battery plants. 

Honda announced a partnership with LG to invest $4.4 billion in a new U.S. battery factory. And BMW, which already operates its largest manufacturing plant in the U.S., announced a $1.7 billion investment to build electric vehicles and a new battery cell factory in South Carolina. 

This created a new manufacturing region called the "Battery Belt”, a north-to-south band of states from Michigan down to Georgia that became a hub for battery manufacturing. Together, companies in these regions promised to deliver an annual capacity of close to 1,200 gigawatt-hours before 2030. 

But the change in administration in 2025 meant new policies, and with the arrival of the Trump administration, the rules of the game were rewritten.

The new administration's policies marked a dramatic shift in priorities, away from the EV-centric approach of the past. This created an entirely new set of risks for the battery industry.

Add this to the sweeping import tariffs. For a domestic industry in its nascent stage, this was a massive problem. While new factories were being built on U.S. soil, they were still heavily reliant on imported materials. Critical components like anodes and cathodes, which are essential for every battery cell, are largely sourced from overseas, particularly China.

And the impacts of these policies are now showing. 

Some have even shut their doors entirely, like Natron Energy. For example, in June, Oregon-based Powin, a battery storage integrator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

But what’s even more worrying is that every stumble by the United States will allow China to gain more ground in battery manufacturing and the supply chain it already dominates. 

China’s dominance in battery manufacturing isn't an unplanned event. In fact,  it’s a direct result of a calculated industrial playbook and unmatched scale that now gives it a powerful chokehold on the global supply chain.

According to Chinese customs data, China already produces the vast majority of the world’s lithium-ion cells, with its output hitting an astounding 1,170 GWh in 2024 — that’s roughly 76% of the global share. 

But the real secret to its power lies in its hold on the midstream part of the supply chain — the step where raw materials are turned into high-grade battery inputs. And China makes almost all of the world’s two most important battery components — the cathode and the anode, the layers where ions move and energy is stored. According to the IEA, China controls a staggering 90% of the world's cathode active material capacity and more than 97% of the anode active material. 

China also holds a near-total grip on graphite. Virtually every EV battery relies on graphite, and Beijing produces and refines more than 90% of the global supply. 

Time and again, China has reiterated its dominance in battery manufacturing by fluctuating prices, imposing export bans, and restrictions. 

For example, in 2023, Beijing introduced export permits on graphite, tightening control over a material essential for every EV battery anode. Then, in 2025, it extended restrictions to export critical EV battery technologies, reinforcing its grip over the industry’s future. Each move reminded the world that China doesn’t just produce batteries — it controls the key chokepoints in their supply chain.

But all’s not bleak for America’s battery story. Despite the slowdown in investment and a string of closures, there are signs that momentum hasn’t vanished entirely. 

The Trump administration is signaling it hasn’t abandoned batteries entirely. The Department of Energy is proposing nearly $1 billion in new funding to speed up the development of U.S. critical minerals and materials — the building blocks for everything from EV batteries to semiconductors.

Interestingly, there is private interest too. 

For example, the oil giant Exxon in September 2025 purchased assets from Superior Graphite, a Chicago-based firm.

The deal gives Exxon a production facility and research center to start making synthetic graphite by the end of the decade. It’s the latest in a string of moves by Exxon to secure a foothold in the EV supply chain. Beyond graphite, the company is also developing technology to extract lithium from underground brine in southwest Arkansas,

The U.S. mustn’t abandon its efforts to build a domestic battery industry and rely on a foreign nation that is not strategically aligned with American interests. That is because batteries are not just about electric cars and clean energy anymore. They are just as critical for powering data centers, which are fast becoming the backbone of the AI boom.

That means batteries sit at the intersection of energy, technology, and security. If the U.S. doesn’t control this part of the supply chain, it risks handing over the keys to both the clean energy transition and the digital economy.

To avoid that, the U.S. must focus on more than just assembly plants. The real gaps are in the upstream and downstream — mining, refining, anode and cathode production, and recycling. Building strength in these areas can free the U.S. from Beijing’s choke points.

This newsletter was written by Shyam Gowtham

Thank you for reading. We’ll see you at the next edition!