Batteries

Every Machine in China’s Battery Line Is Chinese A procurement manager at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters is sourcing cells for the next ID-series platform. The most competitive bids on her desk come from China — and the gap is widening. Not because European batteries don’t exist as a concept, but because every factory that was supposed to make them is now bankrupt, shuttered, or repurposed. ...

The 10,700-Ton Hole in Glencore’s Cobalt Supply A cathode materials procurement manager in Shenzhen stopped waiting for Glencore’s containers from Kolwezi in February. Now she places weekly cobalt orders from a warehouse 120 kilometers away, on the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange, competing with every other buyer whose African supply just got rationed. ...