The lithium-ion battery started with a Sony Handycam roughly three decades ago. From there it moved through laptops and phones, then into cars, and China now controls virtually every critical step in the production process. Bloomberg Originals traces that path from the Sony camcorder to BYD's Seagull, a small EV that costs about a third as much as the cheapest new EV on sale in the US. The documentary explains how that position was built: a state-backed industrial strategy dating to 2001, accelerated by the 2015 Made in China 2025 plan, which designated batteries, EVs, and robotics as national priorities. Critically, China not only scaled production of lithium iron phosphate chemistry that American researchers had originally developed. It also took control of the refining steps for lithium, graphite, and other key inputs, which is where the real supply chain bottleneck sits.
LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, uses cheaper cathode materials than the nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry found in higher-range vehicles. It trades some energy density for lower cost and has improved steadily through small chemistry and structural changes made over years of volume production. The gap in practical terms: the 2026 Nissan Leaf is rated for around 300 miles, while BYD's Seagull offers about 190 miles but costs roughly one-third as much in China. Four of the top five global battery makers by volume are Chinese. The video also covers GM's new chemistry bet, labeled LMR, or lithium manganese rich. It boosts manganese, reduces nickel, and nearly eliminates cobalt. GM is targeting commercial LMR production for SUVs and pickup trucks by 2028, projecting range of around 400 miles, sitting between LFP and high-nickel NMC chemistries.
Three operations get individual attention across the documentary. GM's battery development lead, a Tesla veteran, explains the LMR chemistry and the company's goal of sourcing all battery materials outside China by 2028, with the cathode described as the hardest step to relocate. Gotion, one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery makers, founded in Hefei, China in 2006, opened its first US factory in Manteno, Illinois. It currently employs 300 people and plans to scale to 750 by the end of 2026, producing LFP cells for EVs and grid energy storage. The factory is described internally as Generation 7, Gotion's most automated plant to date. In Norway, the recycler Hydrovolt processes used EV batteries from around 200 different vehicle types, crushing and shredding them into a fine powder called black mass. That material is then sold to chemical companies, mostly in South Korea and Europe, who refine it back into battery-grade metals for reuse.
Bottom line: The picture Bloomberg Originals draws is not a story about a single breakthrough. China's battery position was assembled over two decades through consistent policy, vertical integration, and volume-driven cost reduction. The companies trying to compete are working on decade-long timelines against an incumbent that has not stopped investing. Putting that context on screen in one place, clearly and without cheerleading in either direction, is genuinely useful.