What does it actually take to build a lithium refinery in the US?

In this episode of The SP Show, Srinivas Popuri sits down with Roshan Pujari, Founder & CEO of Stardust Power, for a practical conversation on lithium refining, critical minerals, bankability, pricing pressure from China, de-risking, and industrial execution. A strong listen for anyone in batteries, refining, project development, and the wider energy transition.

What does it actually take to build a lithium refinery in the US?

In this episode of The SP Show, Srinivas Popuri sits down with Roshan Pujari, Founder & CEO of Stardust Power, for a practical conversation on lithium refining, critical minerals, bankability, pricing pressure from China, de-risking, and industrial execution. A strong listen for anyone in batteries, refining, project development, and the wider energy transition.

In Episode 2 of The SP Show, I sit down with Dr. Stuart Johnson, CEO of Solve Process, to unpack one of the battery industry’s most misunderstood realities: why battery materials take years to qualify, where timelines slip, and what kills scale-up programs in practice.

With more than 30 years of experience in process engineering, Stuart breaks down the technical and commercial realities behind battery development in simple language. We cover how lithium-ion batteries work, what each component actually does, why qualification can take years, where startups get caught out, and how different chemistries may fit across the market over the next decade.

This is not a hype-driven conversation. It is a grounded discussion about how things actually get built in the battery value chain, what goes wrong, what gets missed, and what experienced operators have learned the hard way.

If you work in batteries, advanced materials, scale-up, manufacturing, or industrial deep tech, this episode will give you a much clearer view of what it actually takes to move from idea to execution.

Watch, share, and subscribe for more real conversations across the battery value chain.

#sripopuri
Host of 'The SP Show' Podcast
Founder of Battery Consulting Partners
Battery Vault Newsletter
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinivas-popuri-ph-d/]
Twitter: [https://x.com/Srinivasrpopuri]

#Stuartjohnson
Process Engineering Expert
Founder & Director at Solve Process Ltd
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-johnson-18a0711a/]

Read Battery Vault Newsletter
Substack: [https://batteryvault.substack.com]
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/batteryvault/]
Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/batteryvaultt/]

Battery Consulting Partners
[https://batteryconsultingpartners.com/about-us/]

Listen to 'The SP Show' Podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1U9HrDjwEvPYSuA7w5X6Gy]

Listen to 'The SP Show' Podcast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sp-show/id1883846105]

#sripopuri #thespshow #battery #gigafactory #batteryindustry #energystorage #batterymaterials #supplychain #ai #china #scaleup #manufacturing #engineering #energystorage #electricvehicles #processengineering

Why do battery materials take years, not months, to qualify? In this trailer, Stuart Johnson explains the hard reality behind battery scale-up: repeated sample iterations, slow cell testing, pilot-line validation, and the brutal gap between lab success and commercial production.

Stuart Johnson is a process engineering expert and Founder of Solve Process Ltd, with 32 years of experience delivering complex industrial projects. His work focuses on the practical realities of scale-up, process design, and delivery, with clear insight into where technical ambition often collides with execution.

A must-watch for anyone working in batteries, advanced materials, industrial scale-up or project delivery.

Subscribe for more sharp conversations with founders, operators, investors, and experts across the battery value chain.

#sripopuri
Host of 'The SP Show' Podcast
Founder of Battery Consulting Partners
Battery Vault Newsletter
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinivas-popuri-ph-d/]
Twitter: [https://x.com/Srinivasrpopuri]

#Stuartjohnson
Process Engineering Expert
Founder & Director at Solve Process Ltd
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-johnson-18a0711a/]

Read Battery Vault Newsletter
Substack: [https://batteryvault.substack.com]
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/batteryvault/]
Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/batteryvaultt/]

Battery Consulting Partners
[https://batteryconsultingpartners.com/about-us/]

Listen to 'The SP Show' Podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1U9HrDjwEvPYSuA7w5X6Gy]

Listen to 'The SP Show' Podcast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sp-show/id1883846105]

#sripopuri #thespshow #battery #gigafactory #batteryindustry #energystorage #batterymaterials #supplychain #ai #china

Why do so many battery projects struggle before construction even begins?

In this episode of The SP Show, Srinivas Popuri, Ph.D speaks with Tim Newman, Founder and CEO of Newman Eventus, a specialist consultancy focused on hands-on project management for capital projects in energy and advanced battery materials.

With more than 25 years of experience across five continents, Tim has worked on complex industrial projects at the intersection of engineering, execution, and scale. He explains why battery projects often fail in the early stages, what founders and investors consistently underestimate, and why project discipline matters far more than slide-deck ambition.

The conversation covers gigafactory execution, battery materials scale-up, capital project risk, China’s industrial advantage, supply chain complexity, and the realistic role of AI in project delivery.

This episode is for anyone working in batteries, energy transition, advanced manufacturing, industrial project delivery, or battery supply chains.

My guest is Tim Newman, Founder and CEO of Newman Eventus, with more than 25 years of experience delivering complex capital projects across energy, oil and gas, and advanced battery materials.

This is not a surface-level battery conversation.

We discuss why battery projects fail before they start, what most companies still get wrong about execution, the real bottlenecks behind gigafactory delivery, and why China’s structural advantages remain difficult for Western entrants to replicate.

We also look at what the battery industry is already repeating from oil and gas, and what it will actually take to build better.

Full episode live Wednesday at 6:00 PM GMT.

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