RE:Trump says Pentagon to produce lithium sea-water batteriesDefense Industrial Base Report "Erosion of U.S. Rechargeable and Non-Rechargeable Battery Industry
Characterized by irregular demand proportional to operational tempo, the military battery
industrial base is diminishing. Military-unique requirements can depart from commercial
demands in size, quality, safety, power density, weight, and environmental ruggedness. Lack
of stable production orders has resulted in lost capability and capacity, increased surge leadtimes, workforce erosion, and inhibited investments by remaining suppliers. Surge-capacity limiting constraints occur at several points along the value chain, from raw material to final
battery assembly. Additionally, foreign dependencies on essential raw minerals (e.g., lithium)
may potentially impact the rechargeable and non-rechargeable battery supply chain.
Most battery configurations are produced by single sources of supply. Production of BA-5590
(i.e., preeminent non-rechargeable military battery) is currently single-sourced to a foreign owned
supplier in France, with one domestic production facility. Decline in demand for
military-unique non-rechargeable batteries has resulted in capability and capacity loss and
the supplier can no longer support any significant surge in demands. Even when there were
two manufacturers, their combined output struggled to meet surge demands for Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Asian markets dominate the rechargeable battery industry. Domestic rechargeable battery
producers cannot compete in production volume and labor availability and cost. Most
domestic lithium ion cell packagers rely on foreign commercial lithium ion cell suppliers from
countries such as South Korea, China, and Taiwan. Cell availability for military battery
packaging is a risk across the board for rechargeable batteries as commercial cell
manufacturers, often foreign-owned, are unwilling to divert production from their
commercial customers to U.S. military battery manufacturers."
Looks like they get their batteries from SAFT in France. IF Novocarbon got a deal with SAFT I would cry. A lot. From happiness. Then I would purchase a lot more shares because I want to be happier. I could dream of course...