Where is Michigan (and America) at with electric vehicles and battery technology? Gabrielle Coppola, a journalist at Bloomberg, joins me for a conversation on the Daily Detroit podcast.
Coppola wrote a very interesting piece, “America’s long, tortured journey to build EV batteries,” and it caught my eye because A123 systems — a Michigan company — was bought out of bankruptcy by Chinese investors and their cutting edge tech now is used over there. Over here? Americans are left having to license technology we created.
This conversation is about more than that, though. It’s about the immense change happening to the automotive industry, and what the challenges and opportunities really are for American automakers to compete in the EV and battery space.
Follow Gabrielle Coppola on social media:
X: https://twitter.com/gablova?lang=en
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@gablova
Episode rundown:
02:10 – Where are we at with EVs right now in the United States?
05:20 – Is Electric the future technology? What about alternatives?
07:20 – Automakers need to produce a lot of one car to make money
08:21 – Many people in auto industry are very worried about the future and how the changes coming will impact their lives
09:50 – It will take 30% fewer labor hours to make an electric car
11:18 – Carmakers are learning about batteries, and want to bring more in house
13:25 – Challenges for the future of suppliers and the jobs tied to them
14:40 – Michigan’s lead with battery tech from A123 Systems that China bought out of bankruptcy and now uses as they speed ahead with EV adoption
25:22 – Why Michigan has to offer so many subsidies to battery plants, it’s multiple levels.
26:42 – China does not make for a level playing field
27:41 – Competition with China is not a fair fight, and their government puts in seemingly endless dollars (we really don’t know, there’s no transparency)
28:26 – Thinking about quarters vs. generations
30:16 – Whatever America and American consumers decide to do, the rest of the world is not waiting on electric vehicles
30:58 – EVs are wrapped in political identity in America, despite any facts on the ground
34:37 – Michigan advantages for the road ahead
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