Bowering says, “I think the US is going to need to develop its own battery making facilities, which includes cathode plants and other component processing. There isn't much point in establishing a domestic source of lithium and other minerals, if you don't have the manufacturing domestically as well.”  Currently the US only produces 2% of the lithium it consumes. He adds, “The US needs to have domestic production of Li-Ion batteries, or it will become as dependent on this new energy source as it once was on foreign oil.