Finding the Western Edge in Battery Tech
The hosts:
Vera Kunz, Ahren Innovation Capital
Noah Sumait, Energy Impact Partners
What is this Ripple about?
Battery Manufacturing: Finding the Western Edge — Gigafactories, new chemistries, and AI-accelerated materials discovery are creating real momentum in the West. But China's manufacturing lead took decades to build. Where can the West genuinely excel? What can we learn from how they scaled? And what does smart collaboration with Asia look like going forward?
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
Batteries have become over an order of magnitude cheaper in the past decade, and China builds over 75% of them. If the West wants a sovereign supply chain and wants to compete in energy storage, it needs to find its edge.
Key questions or challenges being explored
China has historically excelled at scaling and perfecting Western-origin technology. With solid-state and next-gen chemistries advancing rapidly — including out of China itself — does the West still have a real tech advantage, and where?
Should the West leverage Chinese manufacturing to scale its own battery tech — and if so, how do you do that while protecting IP?
Which chemistries or approaches have the best chance of succeeding in the West?
The key tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Other investors, founders anyone interested in electrification really