How to Build a Battery Industry

The EU wants its own battery industry.

From lithium mining to recycling. From cells to EVs. 100% sustainable, 100% European.

Sounds great on paper. But what does the EU actually do to make this dream happen?

Not much.

Sure, there’s Horizon Europe, the Innovation Fund, and the Recovery and Resilience Facility — all throwing serious money around. But none of it is laser-focused on batteries. Funds are spread thin across dozens of competing green tech bets.

EV subsidies? Some EU countries have them. But they go to any EV — whether it's made in Slovakia or Shanghai.

That might sound good in a free-market economics textbook. Competition = efficiency, right?

But in practice? EU producers are fighting a war on two fronts:

→ higher energy prices

→ higher labour costs

Two things they can’t easily control.

Even if they go full sci-fi: cover every roof in Chinese solar panels and fully automate production with robots — they just trigger other problems: higher unemployment and even higher electricity prices as energy demand falls.

This is not how you build a strategic industry.

You want a local battery and EV supply chain? Time to go old-school: sticks and carrots.

→ Carrot: huge subsidies for EV buyers. Big enough that everyone wants to ditch their diesel burner.

→ Stick: subsidies only for EVs meeting local content requirements.

Start simple — what Europe already has:

Car bodies, interiors, electronics, battery packs.

Then level up every 4-5 years:

→ Cells

→ Electrodes & active materials

→ Recycled & mined metals

Keep this rolling for a decade — and you'll have a real industry, real jobs, real resilience.

No shortcuts. No magic new tech. Just industrial policy done right.