Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $125 million for basic research on rechargeable batteries to provide foundational knowledge needed to transform and decarbonize our energy system through the development and adoption of cost-effective and clean energy sources. The national, economic, and environmental security challenges will not be met solely by incremental improvements to existing clean energy technologies but instead will require transformational technologies founded on new fundamental knowledge and capabilities developed through basic scientific research.