The Chinese EV Conversation Everyone Is Avoiding — Transcript

Exploring the challenges and opportunities of Chinese EVs entering the US market and the American EV adoption mindset.

Key Takeaways

China is rapidly advancing in EV adoption and infrastructure, outpacing the US significantly.
American EV adoption is slowed by cultural values around freedom and vehicle range concerns.
Opening the US market to Chinese EVs could increase competition and improve vehicle options.
Infrastructure development, especially fast charging, is critical to overcoming consumer range anxiety.
Changing the American mindset about EVs is essential for broader acceptance and market growth.

Summary

The US EV market is hindered by regulatory and cultural barriers, limiting access to foreign EVs, especially from China.
China leads globally with EV adoption, hitting 66% of new car sales and expanding infrastructure rapidly.
American consumers value freedom of choice and range, which complicates EV adoption compared to more compact European and Chinese markets.
Experts Rich Rebuilt and Larry Evans discuss the competitive pressures and technological advances shaping the global EV landscape.
The US has fewer EV chargers compared to China, impacting consumer confidence and convenience.
Chinese EVs are poised to enter the US market, potentially disrupting domestic automakers and offering more affordable, feature-rich options.
Cultural and geographic factors in the US, such as spread-out cities and preference for large vehicles like the Ford F-150, affect EV adoption.
The mindset shift required for Americans to embrace EVs involves overcoming concerns about range, charging time, and vehicle capabilities.
Collaboration and competition with Chinese automakers could drive innovation and improve US EV offerings.
The video emphasizes the need for policy changes and consumer education to accelerate EV adoption in the US.

Chapters

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

When Toyota and Honda first came to the American market, they said, "We don't want that crap here. Keep that someplace else." Everyone loves them now. Like, "Oh, that's great. Yeah, give me a Honda, Toyota." The number one thing that America is doing to hurt itself is by blocking these other vehicles. Why are we so reliant on foreign automakers to be the ones pushing this?

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doing to hurting itself [music] by blocking these other vehicles. Why are we so reliant on foreign automakers [music] to be the ones pushing this?

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Rich Benois, better known as Rich Rebuilt, is one of the most respected independent voices in the EV world.

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Been watching your exploits. Thank you very much. Thank you. We're not like Europe. We're not like China. We're not like anywhere else in the world.

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Been watching your exploits. Thank you very much. Thank you. We're not like Europe. We're not like China. We're not like anywhere else in the world.

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Larry Evans is a clean technica journalist who's [music] been covering the rise of Chinese EVs for years. When should the US open up the gates?

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We have roughly 1.6 million engineers in the US. China educates more than that every year.

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It's only a matter of time until we eventually do get Chinese cars in the US. And then what happens?

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Larry Evans is a Clean Technica journalist who's been covering the rise of Chinese EVs for years. When should the US open up the gates?

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and I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the American car market and what's going on with it, the direction we are headed compared to what's going on globally when it comes to car manufacturing.

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Together, they offer a perspective you rarely hear in the same conversation. It's creeping in from the north now with Canada, creeping in from the south with Mexico.

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Meanwhile, China has risen up to twothirds EVs in the most recent months. So, they're hitting 66%.

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It's only a matter of time until we eventually do get Chinese cars in the US. And then what happens?

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There's a good chance a lot of the tier one cities are going to follow. So, they're the largest car market in the world is moving head at a rapid pace.

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One in four cars sold globally in 2025 was electric. Analysts are expecting that number to double in the next decade. So today, I'm here with Rich Rebuilt and we have Larry Evans from Clean Technica.

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In order for Americans to adopt the EV mindset, it's going to be extremely difficult. Number one, this country was founded on freedom, being free, freedom of choice. I could buy whatever I want.

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I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the American car market and what's going on with it, the direction we are headed compared to what's going on globally when it comes to car manufacturing.

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adoption, but we still have a really long way to go. The Ford F-150 gas, they sell 800,000 of those a year.

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Yeah. So if you look at the US car market, it was around 8% EVs last year and it's dropped to around 6% this year.

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the overwhelming major of Americans don't need F150. They don't have to tow. They just want the freedom of knowing that they could if they needed to.

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Meanwhile, China has risen up to two-thirds EVs in the most recent months. So, they're hitting 66%.

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stop for, you know, 30 minutes to an hour. I don't want to do that. I want to have my freedom to be able to drive as far as I want.

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Hainan, which is an island kind of like the Hawaii of China, just announced that they're going to stop selling all IC vehicles at the end of the decade.

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Yeah. So a quarter million versus 25 million to hit 28 million by the end of the year. Most of them fast charging. some of them megawatt flash charging that charge a car as fast as a gas car can

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There's a good chance a lot of the tier one cities are going to follow. So, the largest car market in the world is moving ahead at a rapid pace.

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And I think that's one thing that we're starting to see in China also, the range extenders getting the extra tow range.

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They're expanding that to a lot of Southeast Asia. They're making major moves here in Germany. And that's going to really drive the market forward.

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option, all the power you could ever want. Full-size SUV would sell like hotcakes in the US. every luxury screen that you could possibly put in it and it's a reasonable price, less than the average car in the United States. And one thing

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In order for Americans to adopt the EV mindset, it's going to be extremely difficult. Number one, this country was founded on freedom, being free, freedom of choice. I could buy whatever I want.

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It's a better car because it's an EV and you're buying it because it's a better car, right? So, I think we have to change the American mind on that cuz remember that like all that's very true, but you're coming into a market where

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I could do whatever I want. And trying to sell your average American an EV as compared to a gas vehicle has never been an easy thing. Yes, we're making really good progress and strides in terms of EV adoption, but we still have a really long way to go.

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So, like you have to come in and tell people hey listen no no no buy this instead and not that, it's definitely going to be an uphill battle.

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The Ford F-150 gas, they sell 800,000 of those a year.

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It does. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. they still get home. So, do you think a lot of this also has to do with the way America is shaped and how spread out we are? Our driving needs are a little bit different than you if

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Yeah, that's everything in Tesla's lineup for one year. And Ford does this with one single product. If you think about this, no one needs an F-150. I don't want to say no one needs it, but most Americans,

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access to these vehicles that meet those needs. But I think the bigger thing that's a disruptor in this whole thing is that Americans aren't seeing the possibility. And I talked to a battery executive out of China and he

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the overwhelming majority of Americans don't need an F-150. They don't have to tow. They just want the freedom of knowing that they could if they needed to.

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They're learning from us. We're all building on each other's ideas and progress keeps happening. A lot of Americans don't even know this is possible.

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They're buying what if. Not that I need it, but what if I do? And EVs are the worst case scenario for what ifs. You know why? Because charging and range. If I want to drive, wait a minute, I have to

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know, Tesla did a lot of that with the performance versions and whatnot, but it's not just performance, it's everything. You can get whatever you want better in an EV now. We just aren't given access. We aren't given the

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stop for 30 minutes to an hour. I don't want to do that. I want to have my freedom to be able to drive as far as I want.

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Yeah. I think we um uh none of this really is new. And I think a lot of us that are obviously talking here and watching this live in a bubble, for example, right? So, we all know what EVs are capable of. You know

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On that point, there are a quarter million EV chargers in the US. China's at approximately 25 million.

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than what they when the first 2012 Model S came out. And people know that. I know that. You know that. A lot of the American public knows that as well. But unfortunately, a lot of them just aren't really ready to make that transition yet

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Yeah. So a quarter million versus 25 million, to hit 28 million by the end of the year. Most of them fast charging, some of them megawatt flash charging that charge a car as fast as a gas car can charge.

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thing you see is, "See, he told you you shouldn't buy those things in the first place." So, changing that mindset to tell people, hey, you know what? Even though these things may happen, this is still better for you is a really,

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And when you hit that density of charging, the concern about inconvenience and all that kind of goes out the window. Now, you're still not going to be able to tow as easily without a range extender.

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many places to charge this car, it's still better than this XYZ. Even though these cars might cost on average, you know, 5 10 50% more, it's okay because XYZ. changing that American mindset when they focus on utility, freedom, price,

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And I think that's one thing that we're starting to see in China also, the range extenders getting the extra tow range.

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So, do you think who's at fault for this? Do you think it is uh the automakers? Do you think that it is the American government for not pushing incentives anymore where we look at, you know, other governments across the world

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But that density of charging infrastructure is really helping to drive them forward at a rapid rate. The other thing is we all saw the GX when we were in Beijing. That is a no-compromise vehicle with every single

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So there's still a lot of government incentives for manufacturers. So you talk about automakers, there's the 45x tax credits that go for the batteries.

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option, all the power you could ever want. Full-size SUV would sell like hotcakes in the US. Every luxury screen that you could possibly put in it and it's a reasonable price, less than the average car in the United States. And one thing

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wants to buy EVs. Gave them a whole bunch of tax shreds for that. So we're still giving incentives to manufacturers. We aren't giving out consumer incentives anymore. And if people don't see it, they don't know it's real. And a lot of people aren't

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that you're seeing in China now is these no-compromise vehicles. You aren't buying it because it's an EV.

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that partially, you know, what we're doing trying to get the word out about all these things with EVs, they get to see it. and you you see a car that's less expensive than what you're paying, that's better and charges in five

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It's a better car because it's an EV and you're buying it because it's a better car, right? So, I think we have to change the American mind on that because remember that like all that's very true, but you're coming into a market where

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Xfang before, [music] you can think of them as the Tesla of China. So they also think of themselves as a tech AI company [music] first who happens to make powerful self-driving cars kind of like another company. In fact, their

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the number one selling car in the United States is a massive four-door pickup truck, right?

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but now they're expanding into much more than cars. They've got vision-based self-driving, robo taxis, humanoid robots, and even flying cars. And that's actually why I'm here in Munich right now. They invited media from all around the world for their global launch of

Speaker A

So, like you have to come in and tell people, "Hey, listen, no, no, no, buy this instead and not that." It's definitely going to be an uphill battle.

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I grew up in Missouri for a lot of the show me state. Don't tell me, show me.

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If you're lucky to get 20 miles per gallon and with the price of gas, yeah, that starts adding up fast.

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they see it themselves. But why aren't the American OEMs doing it on their own? Why are we so reliant on foreign automakers to be the ones pushing this? You know, it's because of uh American uh consumerism and capitalism. People

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It does. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They still get home. So, do you think a lot of this also has to do with the way America is shaped and how spread out we are? Our driving needs are a little bit different than if

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saying, "We need more affordable sedans. Like, we want small family sedans. The Model Y is killing it. You know, uh the Honda CRV is killing it. You know, the uh the Toyota RAV 4 is killing it." Ford made the decision to say, "You know

Speaker A

you look at Europe or China and where we have to drive in a day. Like, we might live farther away from the office and have further driving needs. But again, and we don't have access to these Chinese cars right now. We don't have

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The Ford Maverick pickup truck. They sell millions of the F-150. They [clears throat] sell millions of they're following the exact market. And for Ford to come out and say, "Hey guys, you know, I know you love your F-150s. I

Speaker A

access to these vehicles that meet those needs. But I think the bigger thing that's a disruptor in this whole thing is that Americans aren't seeing the possibility. And I talked to a battery executive out of China and he

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changing the minds of consumers is going to be a definite like concentrated effort. Um, I think Ford made the right step when the CEO started driving the Chinese EVs and said, "I love these things." Xiaomi, the Xiaomi. Yeah, he I love these

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said the number one thing that America is doing to hurt itself by blocking these other vehicles is we're not learning from them. He said our strength is we're learning from each of our customers at this battery manufacturer.

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But it's definitely going to be an uphill battle that's going to require uh almost like a fight on all fronts. You need to educate the public.

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They're learning from us. We're all building on each other's ideas and progress keeps happening. A lot of Americans don't even know this is possible.

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choice in people's eyes? That's a really difficult battle to fight. And China's been cutting back all their, you know, support. So, they used to have a purchase tax exemption.

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And that mental problem is going to be much more difficult to overcome than any of the technological barriers. If people still think that, you know, I have to make sacrifices, get the Prius equivalent of a car if I want an EV,

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They're not refunding VAT on their exports anymore. They're getting rid of that. So, they're taking away these incentives because they've reached that level of maturity. We have not reached that level yet and it's going to be a challenge for us

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you know, Tesla did a lot of that with the performance versions and whatnot, but it's not just performance, it's everything. You can get whatever you want better in an EV now. We just aren't given access. We aren't given the

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We have roughly 1.6 million engineers in the US. Yeah. China educates more than that every year. Mhm.

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freedom of choice in the land of the free, home of the brave, where we're not brave enough to let competition in.

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We can still contribute. We can still collaborate and work together. But if you try and divide it, we aren't investing in the right place.

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Yeah. I think we, none of this really is new. And I think a lot of us that are obviously talking here and watching this live in a bubble, for example, right? So, we all know what EVs are capable of. You know

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But we have to put that investment educating young people, getting us to be competitive, and we aren't just going to catch up by isolating our market. Just like the Trabant that we were talking about, in a lot of ways, we're kind of digging

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how fast they can charge. I've driven Teslas. When you plug them in at a supercharger, I've never—it's insane how fast, even how fast they charge now versus what they were before. They charge five times faster

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saying, you know, all the data stuff right now, that's what they're holding on to, but I feel like, you know, it's creeping in from the north now with Canada, creeping in from the south with Mexico.

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than when the first 2012 Model S came out. And people know that. I know that. You know that. A lot of the American public knows that as well. But unfortunately, a lot of them just aren't really ready to make that transition yet

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I think there's another factor coming in here. China is taking over all the other markets. We are not reaching global scale on anything. So only things like the F-150 that are dedicated the US market that are not relevant anywhere

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because they have barriers in their minds, whether it be from friends or family members to say, "Well, you don't want this because electric cars catch fire." Yeah. Those stories go viral. Anytime an electric car catches fire, the first

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question. The one thing about the US is our economy is driven by consumption. And if you tell consumers that they can't get what they want, they're going to be upset. People think that, oh, it's military spending that tore down the Berlin Wall, which is to

Speaker A

thing you see is, "See, he told you you shouldn't buy those things in the first place." So, changing that mindset to tell people, hey, you know what? Even though these things may happen, this is—

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money, especially with all the affordability. You know, it's like we're using these CRT TVs that cost two months salary back in the 80s when you can get a touchscreen that costs a few hours of wages that's better. You know, a big

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widescreen TV, 4K for less money. I think Americans want what they want when they want it and they want it now.

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I think this country is in a very unique space where we're not like Europe, we're not like China, we're not like anywhere else in the world. Number one, even though I keep, you know, harping on this F-150 thing,

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that Ford F-150 wouldn't survive anywhere else in the world. You don't see F-150s on European streets for a very big reason. They're just such massive vehicles.

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So, number two, what you're also going to realize as well is that when uh Honda and Toyota first came here, there was a big push from Americans to saying, "We don't want these vehicles here." If you remember that or not,

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there was a huge push. They had a lot of not very nice names to say about foreign automakers coming in. We don't want those, you know, not very well put together cars here. We don't want their money. Keep those cars where they are

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now. They're the two and three number two and three selling cars in the United States. Right.

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And they're known for reliability and quality. They're known for reliability. So, I think it's going to be uh a learning curve. And one of the things I question as to whether or not these uh foreign automakers come in, I don't really

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believe it's going to be a decimation of the uh American car market like a lot of people speculate. And and here's the reason why. If if the Chinese are going to bring cars to the United States, let's just say they say, you know what,

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let these cars in. I don't really think the American car market is going to flip upside down. Not just yet, at least. The majority of the cars that will be coming from other sources will be electric cars.

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Yeah. We already have several electric car choices, whether it be Kia, Rivian, you know, uh Tesla or the United States, right?

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So when these cars come in, these cars already take up such a very small market share. Once these new cars come in, it's not all of a sudden going to go from 7% to 20% to 50%. It's going to do that.

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Number two, when the cars come in, all these, you know, really low prices that we're easily enticed by, oh, you get this car for 10 grand, 20 grand, 20 grand. When those cars come here, they will no longer be 15, 20 grand.

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Yeah. They're they're just not they're just not going to price. So, like what's going to happen is you're going to have a larger pool of electric vehicles, sure.

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Are they going to take over the American market? I'm not really sure of that yet.

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I think that number is going to grow very very you know gradually because in order for there to be a large explosion of the population of the popularity of these vehicles Americans have to change pretty much everything the way they do.

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Yeah. Right now in you could drive from you know Germany to France to Spain and D in a very small period of time. The United States it'll take you days to go from one ear to the other. The United States

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cities aren't exactly close apart. You have to drive from place to place. America is built on the freedom of having your own vehicle. Our public transport system needs to be desired.

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We have all these current issues in place that aren't exactly conducive to having, you know, a large share of EVs.

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I think as time goes on, as we have smarter cities that are built that are built more efficiently for traveling, uh more EV charging infrastructure, more places to service EVs, I think it'll change then. But as of now,

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we're trying to have this modern technology on aging infrastructure and an aging mindset. I think the aging mindset's the number one thing. And I think that even when China enters, it will take a while for people's minds to wrap around it,

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right? I think perhaps the big beyond not learning from what's happening, not having competition there, I think is making our cars worse. If if Ford knows I have to compete against these other EVs, right, they have to step up their

Speaker A

game. And I think when people have to step up their game be [music] kind of like the US automakers [clears throat] did in the 80s. They had to learn how to make small cars that were affordable.

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You couldn't just slap a V8 engine in it and call it good enough because you had that competition coming in. And it will take a while for people to change their minds. I look at what Peter Brock did with the Dodson 510s and like

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all that racing that changed a lot of people's minds. But it took a while.

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Even if you look at what's happening in China, there are better cars for the money than the Teslas if you look at them side by side.

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But people Tesla is first and they still have that first mover mindset and they still think that it's it's a great car and it's mostly older people who are still buying it. Our demographics in the US average car buyer is around 56.

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Yeah. you know, so that demographic, those ones that can afford, who else can afford a car that's the average car price is like 50, 60 grand.

Speaker A

Yeah. Getting those people who are, you know, a little bit older than me, but not much to change their minds. It's a little bit slower process. And um I think that the technology will move faster than public awareness and

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correct. Um I have a question for you also, and you may I don't know if you have the answer to this, but we're in Europe right now.

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For those that don't realize, we are in Germany. We're here for an Xpang event.

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We're learning about Xpang cars. We've we've all traveled a lot globally and have kind of seen what has happened globally. Now, in Europe, you know, we are bringing all these Chinese manufacturers here. They're they're here, but at the same time, we still

Speaker A

have BMW, Mercedes. What is going on um to those luxury German brands when the Chinese are coming in?

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So it it depends on which brand you're dealing with. Um but one thing's happening is more partnership. If you look at the new new class EX-3 and you talk to the people in China when they were displaying it there first is a

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lot of collaboration going on. Even though the styling is largely German, you look at the battery, it's EV Energy, that's a Chinese manufacturer. a lot of the motors and a lot of the engineering in there, it's not 100% Chinese, but

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it's heavily relying on collaboration and the collaboration makes their new EVs dramatically better than the ones they replace. And I think they are taking a leading role in that collaboration moving forward. You look at Volkswagen. Volkswagen has a huge

Speaker A

challenge in that their board is largely labor unions. half of its labor unions and then part of its lower Saxony and the two of them together want to keep the manufacturing here but they're also exploring these partnerships with Xpunk

Speaker A

they have the ID Unix you go to the show and you look at their partner vehicles in their very impressive vehicles at at the Beijing auto show that we were at right um I think partnership is the way

Speaker A

forward this global collaboration no longer thinking this is a German car although German does sell.

Speaker A

And that's a challenge with an Audi brand in China that people know it's a Chinese Audi. They want a German Audi cuz they're buying German, right?

Speaker A

But eventually that's set to catch on. But look at what happened in the US now with Polestar. We had Polestar and now they're banned in the US and that was kind of a collaboration.

Speaker A

Yeah. Yeah. And that to me seemed like that would be the way to kind of start those collaborations in the US. Bring them in.

Speaker A

That should have been the first step and that should have been and they stopped it right there and they stopped it. It's like why not bring that in, you know, allow Ford to develop their line with like Xiaomi or something, you know?

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Well, Ford tried to collaborate with CL on a battery plant. They shut him down.

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You know, a lot of people don't want that collaboration. Um, and it's coming from both sides. We, you know, sometimes we focus a lot on just Trump, but it's also the labor unions. The labor unions want the traditional automakers who

Speaker A

aren't as strong in this new technology to keep doing what they're doing and keep manufacturing that has jobs, not necessarily automated. I mean, we saw the Xpunk Plat, it's fully automated, right? Up until you get to final assembly automation, they want to

Speaker A

keep that you have both sides working together, fossil fuels, corporate leadership, and labor unions. And that's very hard to overcome.

Speaker A

It's extremely hard. And I think a lot of Americans are scared, not Americans in general, but like a lot of people in general are scared of that automation that you speak of because with that level of automation, those uh those dark plants that they

Speaker A

have in general, there's no lights at all, just robots working 24/7. What happens to the average American auto automaker? What happens to to places like Detroit that that's the lifeblood United States, you know, to make those American products? a lot of

Speaker A

those issues they start slowing down like how many tech companies have laid off tens of thousands of people because of AI automation. So, I think a lot of these labor unions are fighting to keep the pride in these in these workers that

Speaker A

might not be necessarily uh able or apt to actually compete in these markets. Because I'll tell you, if a lot of these uh technologies they have overseas were to be implemented in the US, it would be something else. The prices

Speaker A

would drop uh but a lot of jobs would be lost. Yeah. A lot of efficiency would be lost. Look at AI data centers. 50 employees for something that you know takes a job of thousands.

Speaker A

And EVs have a lot fewer parts and the parts they have are automated assembly.

Speaker A

The batteries automated assembly. The motors are automated. So like you don't have a bunch of people in the powertrain assembling a ton of gears and a ton of like engine parts.

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It's all highly automated. And you look at some of these like 16in1 12 in1 assemblies where it's one power unit.

Speaker A

The electronics aren't that complicated. It's all consolidated. It's all mounted to the motor. All slots in there, which gives you freedom and it gives you the ability to design things and do more creative things. But that efficiency, the flip side is it's

Speaker A

not as labor intensive. So, think about uh even Tesla, and this is what blew my mind when when Tesla first came on the scene. You want a Model 3, do you want a white interior or a black interior?

Speaker A

That's all you get. Yeah. uh uh Ford, Chevy, Silverados. Oh, do you want this trim level? There's seven trim levels. Yeah, there's five different interior choices.

Speaker A

You could have the platinum, the the XLT, the Eddie Bower edition that uses like raw cowhide.

Speaker A

Like, these things are labor intensive, but this is what the American populace wants. So, when Tesla came out and said, "Hey, we're going to charge you $60,000 for a car that has plastic seats and a little screen in the middle." People were like,

Speaker A

"This doesn't make any sense." Guess what? over the past 10 years, people only want to drive Teslas now. So, a lot of it is like changing the American mindset to say, "Wait a minute, like like yes, I understand that this isn't

Speaker A

what you're used to, but look, it makes farting noise to the you know what I mean? Look what else it could do." You hear what I'm saying?

Speaker A

I I think along those lines, we also see cycles where everyone wants kind of the same car and they all want them the same basic and then you go into customization. We're seeing a customization phase. The amount of

Speaker A

attachments and different things you can do and how you can set up the vehicle in different ways. It's not the same kind of customization that we might have been used to. You know, we aren't adding turbos and all that, but like

Speaker A

that cycle is coming back where people can personalize it. People don't want all the same thing. Not that they're seeing a lot of these vehicles for example. Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker A

Yeah. And then the other thing to think about too is do people still want to drive their cars? Do people still care about a car from a car standpoint or do they want this more as just [music] physical AI that can take me from point

Speaker A

A to point B? And if that mindset does change in the US, which you can already see it starting to, and that's the trend we're seeing happen around the world.

Speaker A

It's kind of like the US is the one that's behind here. you know, that that's gonna radically change our economy. And that next P7 though, as a car you want to drive, but for chore driving, like you're stuck in heavy traffic, it'll

Speaker A

take over that. So, it could take over the drive, the chore driving, and then you have a car that's also fun to drive.

Speaker A

So I think that there's a potential that we kind of make bring it back to what's fun and having that kind of a re resurgence in fun. Even if you only use it on the weekend, even if you have an IC car on

Speaker A

the weekend and you have an electric autonomous vehicle that takes you back and forth to work and does all the chores and it's quiet and efficient and yeah, like you know driving in New York City during rush hour, it's not fun. It's not fun

Speaker A

driving. I enjoy driving, right? I like the tur curvy roads. I like the acceleration.

Speaker A

But chore driving isn't fun. If it can take that off, maybe we even see a resurgence of people wanting to learn slip angles and get that. I mean, they need an electric Miata to come out.

Speaker A

Somebody needs to figure that out. But like we need to get fun back into these.

Speaker A

I think that if you look at a lot of places now that you can buy like that track experience and you can become a member and I think we're going to start to see that resurgence of people that want to

Speaker A

drive for fun for sport. Pleasure. Yeah. Pleasure driving kind of like horseback riding if we're going to go back to it.

Speaker A

It's like it became like a sport for fun and then we're also going to have it.

Speaker A

And maybe that's where some of these, you know, OEMs need to lean more into that performance aspect and that's how they'll survive by leaning into that where we do, you know, and again, we do have some Americanmade companies that I

Speaker A

think will be able to compete. You know, Rivian is really leaning into their AI.

Speaker A

We obviously have Tesla who's the global leader right now. Um, those companies are going to survive. We'll see what happens with Lucid, who is American but kind of non-American, more Saudi at this point.

Speaker A

Yeah. [laughter] Um but we'll see where where where this goes in the future. But if you were going to guess 10 years from now, who would be at the top in terms of uh car manufacturing?

Speaker A

Yeah, global global and in the US BYD. um just the vertical integration, the full technology stack from silicon carbide to the motors uh to the batteries. No, not necessarily all their cars are exciting. So, the Dong is a

Speaker A

great car, the Clo's a great car. Most of them are kind of like more commodity cars, but you know, the RAV 4 overtook the Model Y, and the RAV 4 is not an exciting car. Um, not everybody's wanting that, but it also opens the door

Speaker A

for a lot of other companies to take their niche, do something a little bit more fun. Um, but I would say BYD. Um, I think the American market is going to look different from the global market, but if I were to guess globally, I would

Speaker A

say a Chinese manufacturer is definitely going to be on top for sure. I don't know which one it's going to be, but I would I would say one of many we have now. I also think that in 10 years a lot

Speaker A

of the Chinese manufacturers you see today won't won't exist. I think they might be rolled up into one, you know, uh overall global brand. Uh but I don't think a lot of them will be here. Uh I still do think that Tesla is definitely

Speaker A

going to be uh a close second, maybe even third. But I think with the shift with what you see Tesla's doing, they're they still make cars, which is great, but now they're shifting more towards the actual tech aspect of things.

Speaker A

There's no more S, no more X. Uh, you're going to start to see a lot more robots, I'm assuming, and I think they're going to continue with the with the Y uh 3, pop out a new model here and there, but

Speaker A

cyber cab. Cyber cab, but I don't know if they will be the global leader in terms of consumer.

Speaker A

I don't think they're going to get Yeah, I think I think the I think the cyber cabs are going to be uh very interesting to see how those progress. I think there's going to be a lot of push back

Speaker A

on those as well uh in terms of uh you know uh jobs, but I think it's it's going to be interesting for sure.

Speaker A

So, I have a question for both of you. Would you rather be in a little two-seater y or an Xpunk GX with all the screens and this the reclining massage seat?

Speaker A

It seems a little biased. There's no question. There's no question on what which one you would rather be in if you're first class or economy class in my opinion.

Speaker A

Right. Yeah, there's no question. But then the other thing is, you know, we talked a little bit about the collaborative nature.

Speaker A

Maybe Tesla in the future is like, "Hey, we'll collab with some of these American OEMs to save our economy and we're not going to be the car makers anymore, but we're going to give you our technology." I don't know if Tesla would phrase it as

Speaker A

saving the economy. I would think Tesla would view it as an angle to make them more revenue. I would say this as you know uh other manufacturers have now adopted the North American charging standard [clears throat] which is which

Speaker A

is great. Uh number two I would say that Tesla will sell and license their technology to a lot of places like you know they've had collaborations with Mercedes.

Speaker A

They've had collaborations with uh with also with Toyota as well. So I think when a lot of manufacturers are like hey we're kind of struggling here they might lean on companies like Tesla which been global leaders and Rivian also has

Speaker A

Volkswagen. Absolutely. So we're kind of seeing that happen. So even they're not trying to be the largest automaker. They've said this outright. They their focus isn't even on the manufacturing. They want to be a technology company, right?

Speaker A

And a lot of the technology it looks like more and more of it's going to be supplied to other companies. And if they can supply to Volkswagen, that could be a lifeline to them. Volkswagen got self-driving tech, you know, that's

Speaker A

globally competitive, that could really drive their brands forward. Yeah. So, when should the US open up the gates?

Speaker A

Tomorrow morning. Yeah. Tomorrow morning. Are we hurting ourselves the longer we wait? It's going to it's going to cause a major clash in American culture. But you have to understand that Americans are more worried about other things besides vehicles. Right now, we have the

Speaker A

option to buy pretty much whatever car we want. We have other issues like being able to afford groceries and health care and other things, other major issues like that.

Speaker A

In terms of what we want for options for cars, when you ask the average American citizen, you know, what do you think about Chinese cars? are going to say, "Huh, I can just go to the store and buy

Speaker A

a car right now." Not really. The interest really isn't. Will it destroy our economy?

Speaker A

Absolutely not. It's uh it's what So, again, I remember distinctly my father talking about when Toyota and Honda first came to American market, they said, "We don't want that crap here.

Speaker A

Keep that someplace else." 20 years later, 30 years later, everyone loves them now. Like, oh, that's great. Yeah, give me a Honda Toyota. They're known for like quality and reliability. So, I think the same thing's going to happen

Speaker A

with Chinese cars. Um, I think if you ask the average American, where's China versus Japan? They probably wouldn't know. Sounds bad, but a lot of them would not.

Speaker A

So, they said, "We don't know where it's coming from, but we what we know that we want something that's affordable." And I think when they come here, this fantasy about having a $12,000 car, that's going to go kaput with within

Speaker A

within minutes once you realize all the layers of red tape. This person has to get paid. Oh, equitable labor laws. You have to be manufactured here. a lot of that's going to go away.

Speaker A

I also think that long-term, and we've seen this with Hyundai and a lot of automakers, is that it makes sense to have large, bulky, heavily automated products made where they are locally just from the cost of labor in these

Speaker A

isn't that much. It's not that much of a savings. So over time, once the market's established, once they establish scale, it will happen naturally. trying to force it ends up with you getting the previous generation technology.

Speaker A

The consumer is it's in the best case scenarios, you are deriving previous generation technology to try and make something that's competing with two generations ahead by the time it comes out. The example I always use is this brilliance B6 which

Speaker A

was Porsche BMW chassis engineering, a Mitsubishi motor engine and pinman for design. Sounds like recipe for success.

Speaker A

was all previous generation stuff at this joint venture from China. Put it together, the car just didn't work. It failed every crash test. It was an embarrassment. Actually stimulated China to really start focusing on developing the technology internally. But

Speaker A

everything they've done since then has moved forward. Developed countries who want the best thinking that you know forcing these technology sharing agreements is going to benefit them does not work out that way. You end up with previous generation stuff. If you're in

Speaker A

a developing country, great. You know, you look at the Nissan Suru that was the bestselling car in Mexico for years, which was a previous generation uh Sentra, not competitive anywhere else, failed all the crash standards, but it still

Speaker A

worked in that because it was a developing country, right? A developed country, it sets you back.

Speaker A

It gets you in that midpoint between no industry and where you are. And we don't need to step back. We need to step up and move forward.

Speaker A

Okay. All right. Let me know what you guys think in the comments below. Do we need to be writing to our politicians pushing this forward? Where do you see this going? Let us know in the comments.

Speaker A

Thank you for watching. Let us know if you have any questions. Definitely go check out Larry's writing on Clean Technica. Also, you have a YouTube channel.

Speaker A

Uh kind of. I'm working on it. All right. And then you guys obviously know Rich Rebuild. He's world famous.

Speaker A

I'm working on my YouTube channel, too, but it's not ready yet. So, don't don't um and thank you guys for watching.

Speaker A

We'll catch you next time.

Topics:Chinese EVsElectric vehiclesUS car marketEV adoptionAutomotive industryClean technologyEV infrastructureFord F-150EV competitionEV mindset

Why is the US EV market lagging behind China?

The US faces regulatory barriers, limited EV infrastructure, and cultural preferences for vehicle range and freedom of choice, which slow EV adoption compared to China’s rapid growth and supportive policies.

What impact could Chinese EVs have on the US market?

Chinese EVs entering the US could increase competition, offer more affordable and feature-rich vehicles, and push domestic automakers to innovate, potentially accelerating EV adoption.

What are the main challenges for Americans adopting EVs?

Americans are concerned about EV range, charging times, and vehicle capabilities, and value the freedom to drive long distances without inconvenience, making mindset change and infrastructure development crucial.

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