New EV batteries are making electric cars cheaper and safer

"A new kind of battery could make American EVs cheaper and safer,
experts say. But first, it will have to overcome trade barriers between
the United States and China.
If you bought an EV with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, you
could expect lower car payments, less fire risk and more years of use
out of your car — but you wouldn’t be able to go as far on a single
charge as you could with the nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries
commonly found in American and European electric cars. That trade-off
has made LFP batteries the go-to choice for standard-range EVs in China,
helping to make electric cars more affordable and limit pollution.
Now, American companies are starting to build their own LFP batteries to
catch up to their Chinese rivals.
“I definitely suspect that there will be some homegrown LFP chemistries
in the next couple years, and we’ll start to see it … grow quite rapidly
over the next five to 10 years,” said Scott Moura, an environmental
engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
But there are plenty of barriers for U.S. companies that want to adopt a
technology dominated by Chinese firms. Tariffs and tax credit
restrictions have made it too expensive for most American automakers to
import LFP batteries from China, and national security concerns have
made it hard for American companies to partner with Chinese battery
makers to build factories in the United States.
Those challenges may get harder under President Donald Trump, who has
threatened to raise tariffs and trade barriers with China."