China Leads in EVs
Why is China winning the electric-vehicle production race? Because it controls or dominates every step of the process of making EV batteries, according to (subscription).
Whats going on: Despite billions in Western investment, China is so far aheadmining rare minerals, training engineers and building huge factoriesthat the rest of the world may take decades to catch up.
- Rare minerals: China owns the majority of the cobalt mines in Congowhere most of the worlds supply of the metal sitsand it controls most of the worlds lithium mining.
- Refining: Regardless of who mines the minerals, nearly everything is shipped to China to be refined into battery-grade materials.
- Components: China produces more EV batteries than any other country, which it managed partly by figuring out how to make battery components efficiently and at lower cost.
- Final products: China boasts the most EVs on the road of any nation, and almost all of them use batteries made domestically.
Why its important: Now, eight years after the Chinese government instituted policies to bar foreign competitors from the EV market and increase consumer demand, the Biden administration [is] pursuing a similar strategy to foster battery development in the United States. But in a business with huge capital costs and thin profit margins, Chinese companies have a big head start after years of state funding and experience.
