US battery startups have found a lifeline in defense

In the meantime, soldiers and drones still need lightweight and capable batteries from U.S. sources. A few years ago, those batteries could have come from domestic factories that sprung up in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act. But after the One Big Beautiful Bill gutted battery battery production incentives, the Pentagon may have had to start looking for alternatives. These new DOE grants might amount to an admission that efforts to kill the American EV industry went a bit too far.