It’s no secret in the critical minerals space — and increasingly beyond — that “we are in the midst of a battery arms race.”  Today, “battery arms race” is a frequently used phrase to describe the rise of lithium Ion battery megafactories, but did you know that it was one of the ARPN expert panel members who coined it?

In a recent blog post for the company blog, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s managing director Simon Moores — who is also a member of the ARPN panel of experts — recounts how the term he first mentioned in 2015 has gone mainstream.

When he first used the phrase in 2015, Moores’ company was tracking seven lithium Ion battery megafactories.

A lot has changed since then, as followers of ARPN well know — thankfully not just in terms of global numbers, but also in terms of what has been happening in the United States, where efforts to overhaul critical mineral resource policy and securing our supply chains are finally being prioritized.

Writes Moores:

“Be under no illusions that this is a moment. 

The battery arms race trend was set in motion in 2015, but we can now comfortably say: ‘the megafactories are mainstream.’ The journey has taken Benchmark to the top of world governance including The White House, The Pentagon and The G7.

The world’s governments are listening. And with this political will adding to industry commitment, Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Megafactory Assessment now reads 225 plants and rising.

And the USA is no longer a bystander.”

As our federal policy makers reconvene after their August recess, here’s hoping that the momentum for reform in the context of the battery arms race, generated in part by the Biden Administration’s 100-Day Supply Chain assessment (which we covered in our latest report) carries over and does not fizzle.