Batteries
What happens inside a lithium-ion cell, why LFP chemistry won the grid and most of the world's electric cars, and who makes the cells. It covers the electrochemistry and the cost curve, how a gigafactory works and why Northvolt's could not learn, electric cars and grid storage, sodium-ion's arrival, solid-state's claims against its products, the supply chain and the trade war, recycling, and safety. Brought to October: the 2026 rebound in lithium and storage-cell prices, American tariffs of about 41% on Chinese cells, and the Moss Landing flare-up. Where the field argues, over purchase subsidies, local moratoriums on grid batteries, and licensing Chinese technology, each side makes its case before the evidence. Seven worked examples, from a car pack built two ways to iron-air against lithium.