The stated goal of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovation Hubs, comprising 14 partner institutions led by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), is to develop the battery of the future. Like Daniel Burnham, they are making no little plans.

The need for better batteries is obvious:  To modernize the electrical grid so that more renewable energy can be sourced and delivered, thereby reducing our dependency on fossil fuels; and to accelerate the electrification of vehicles, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as the consumption of fossil fuels. And if a significant fraction of vehicles were electrified, the grid would need to be upgraded anyway just to handle the load. The need for better batteries is not just about technical superiority, however. It’s also about economic security.