Batteries

Batteries have become an industry in their own right, and this section treats them as one: chemistries (lithium iron phosphate, sodium-ion, solid electrolytes), rising densities, costs per kilowatt-hour in free fall, gigafactories rising from the ground from China to Hungary. We also track second-life uses and cell recycling — the loop that will turn a raw-materials problem into a resource.

Our angle: measurement over promise. A lab announcement only enters these pages with numbers attached — cycles, density, cost — and each article says how far it stands from production. Asian players, who account for most of the market and of the innovation, get the coverage the general press almost never gives them: CATL, BYD, EVE, but also the equipment makers and chemists nobody ever names.