Topical https://www.npr.org/2023/01/30/1152527049/congress-tightens-u-s-manufacturing-rules-after-battery-technology-ends-up-in-ch
Congress tightens U.S. manufacturing rules after battery technology ends up in China
Excerpt
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said she and then-Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, sponsored the measure after an NPR investigation into how breakthrough battery technology from a U.S. government lab wound up at a company in China. The bill passed with wide support in December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
"The Invent Here, Make Here Act is focused on making sure that when we invest American taxpayer dollars, that the breakthroughs actually end up getting manufactured here," Baldwin said.
NPR, in partnership with public radio's Northwest News Network, found the Department of Energy allowed cutting-edge technology to transfer overseas from its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with little oversight. The lab spent six years and more than $15 million developing a new battery recipe using vanadium.
Scientists thought the batteries would change the way Americans powered their homes. Instead, China just brought online the world's largest battery farm using the American technology.
NPR and N3 found the Department of Energy and the lab granted the license to a company that moved manufacturing overseas on two separate occasions, even though the contract required the company to "substantially manufacture" the batteries in the U.S.