Chief technology officer and founder of American Lithium Energy, Dr. Jiang Fan, at the company's Carlsbad, Calif., office, on March 13, 2017. (David Brooks/San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)
SAN DIEGO: At American Lithium Energy's headquarters outside San Diego, President and co-founder Jiang Fan opens a padlocked door to the company's battery testing chamber.
Here, squat machines puncture batteries with nails, crush them with a weight and pump so much voltage into them during recharging that they swell like miniature balloons.
