A Tesla assembly line of the early Model S sedans in 2012. Credit: Steve Jurvetson, Creative Commons
The world's carmakers are maneuvering toward an electric future, but China’s grip on the precious minerals vital to the new vehicles may spark another revolution: a race to retrieve and recycle batteries.
General Motors announced in January that it plans a major switch to electric vehicles, in a bid to compete with Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as Nio, a Chinese EV startup whose stock market value is now equal to GM. All want the best technology to persuade consumers to trade in their gas powered automobiles, but automakers will also have to figure out how to keep their climate-conscious models moving.
China now controls much of the supply chain for cobalt, a critical element for the most powerful electric vehicle batteries. It also dominates the supply of lithium and nickel, metals used in a variety of batteries. China has hinted that it could move to restrict the export of key elements, like the rare earths crucial to the defense sector, creating con
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Wang Wentao, the Chinese Commerce Minister, in Washington. It marked the first cabinet-level meeting in Washington between the U.S. and China during the Biden administration, and it was a signal of the Commerce Department’s increasingly central role in the current U.S.-China relationship. Usually, the Commerce Department is far from the center of anything, but as Katrina Northrop reports, the department is uniquely suited to address the China challenge.
The lawyer and author talks about the attack on a train in the 1920s which created an international incident, the rise of the Communist Party and the conditions for foreign media in China today.
