In the long human pursuit of cleaner, more capable energy, a Chinese automaker has placed a $1.49 billion wager on a technology that has long promised much but delivered little at scale. Chery, headquartered in Anhui province, announced at the World Power Battery Conference that it will deploy 1,200 engineers over two years to bring solid-state batteries closer to the road — not by rushing, but by insisting that safety must precede speed. It is a bet that speaks as much to competitive anxiety as to technological conviction, arriving at a moment when the race to define the next generation of el