The US-China Battery War with Steve LeVine

EVs and Chinas have become intertwined, mostly because China has developed an unassailable lead in making the most important, and most expensive component of any electric car. They aren’t just a political target just of Donald Trump, who led the charge on an all-out trade war in his first term in office. The current Biden administration is imposing a 25% tarriff on any vehicle with a Chinese battery pack, and it’s unlikely a Harris successor White House would change that. Either way, the best batteries are being made in China, and it’s an all out race between the United States and our allies like South Korea to compete while stalling the damage from their China’s lead.

For this episode Max speaks with The Information’s Steve LeVine, who runs their reporting on the battery arms race and EVs at large, aptly branded The Electric. Steve is a career journalist who’s covered international affairs in countries like Russia and Kazakhstan, the market for oil in the wake of the soviet union, and most recently, the chaotic new economy and arms race happening with batteries. He even wrote a book about it in 2015. The story of EV batteries is also the story of the world’s greatest superpowers duking it out. Let’s get up to speed with him.

Steve's newsletter The Electric: https://www.theinformation.com/features/the-electric
Steve's 2015 Book, The Powerhouse, on How US Labs Invented The Modern Rechargeable Battery: https://www.amazon.com/Powerhouse-America-China-Great-Battery/dp/0143128329/
Learn More About The American EV Jobs Alliance: https://evpolitics.org
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