Can we build batteries fast enough to maintain exponential growth of renewables and electric vehicles?

Tesla decided to build the first Gigafactory when it realized there wasn’t enough global capacity to meet their own demand for batteries. Since starting Gigafactory 1 in Nevada in 2016, dozens of other major factories have been built, and more are in the pipeline. The planned capacity for battery production is approaching the TWh/year scale.

Battery supply will indeed be the limiting factor, or bottleneck, for the deployment of renewables and EVs. However, the enormous demand from those sectors will create massive incentives to ramp up battery supply. This bottleneck will therefore constrain but not prevent the disruption.

Explore the evidence...

• The exponential buildout of 100% solar, wind and battery systems is already affordable and can begin immediately. There is no reason to wait to build a 100% SWB system. Find out why on p53 our Rethinking Energy report.
• Not only is the build-out of a 100% solar, wind and battery systems possible now, but the production process will also create far fewer emissions than traditional vehicles.
• RethinkX research has shown that 90% of upcoming generation projects waiting to be connected to the network in the U.S. are solar or wind, and 98% of solar and wind storage is from batteries. Learn more in our Great Disruption YouTube series.
• Throughout human history, disruptions brought about by emerging technologies, like lithium-ion batteries, follow a similar timeline, cost and experience curve once they enter the market. Adam Dorr, Head of Research at RethinkX's discusses this further in our YouTube Series Brighter.

Witness the transformation

Conventional clean energy scenarios make the common error of misunderstanding that disruptive new technologies will not just replace old technologies on a one-to-one basis, but they will transform the system completely...

The enormous demand from both the transport and energy sectors will create massive incentives to ramp up battery supply.

This new, clean energy system run by 100% SWB is inevitable, and will produce a superabundant surplus of clean energy at near-zero marginal cost that we call SWB Superpower.