But the batteries that enable vehicle electrification represent much more than the latest in automotive engineering--they offer a mechanism for America to finally break free from its addiction to foreign oil.

My first palpable experience with this addiction was during the oil embargo of 1973. My company and many others had layoffs for the first time in their history, and America became burdened with massive unemployment and economic chaos. At the time, we made an earnest pledges to change our ways, but when the embargo lifted and prices began to stabilize, we relapsed back to the addictive clutches of foreign oil. Since 1973 this pattern has persisted, and we have yet to muster an effective program to break this cycle.

Today, "energy independence" has become the topic-du-jour for politicians and business leaders looking to latch on to a seemingly virtuous cause through rousing oratories and campaign promises. But what starts as passionate resolve quickly fizzles to nothing more than empty rhetoric when unaccompanied by decisive action.

We have allowed foreign oil to become our lifeblood, and despite ongoing discord in the Middle East, we continue to ravenously consume it with a seemingly insatiable appetite. America is in desperate need of an intervention to address this self-destructive behavior.

This addiction is a disease, and battery technology is the cure. Enabling cars to run on electricity instead of gasoline sets us on the path to rapid recovery and enables us to sustain true long-term energy independence.

Eliminating our dependence on foreign oil is not a goal confined to the left or right of the national political agenda; it is an American goal shared but everyone wishing to end the recurring devastation this addiction wreaks on our economy. We are well on our way to establishing a robust domestic battery manufacturing industry.

These efforts will pay significant dividends--battery technology is not only the key to widespread adoption of electric vehicles, but it is also the much-needed, elusive remedy for our addiction to foreign oil that will allow America to finally realize the long-lasting benefits of energy independence.

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