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The Electric

By Steve LeVine

The Electric is a publication from Steve LeVine and The Information focused on crucial industries for the energy transition, including next-generation batteries, electric vehicles and autonomous driving. The newsletter is only for subscribers of The Information.

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Recent Editions

Scrap iron, abundant in the U.S., could be a key raw material for LFP. Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
The Electric

The Iron Age for EVs Finally Arrives With a Rush of Companies in the U.S. and Europe

By Steve LeVine · Apr 17, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric!Save the date: Electric vehicle sales are ticking up around the world, but in one country they rose threefold last year—India, where a mania has erupted over electric two-wheelers. The leading company in the nascent industry is Hero Electric, India’s largest manufacturer of electric two-wheelers. So I’m excited to... Welcome back to The Electric!Save the date: Electric vehicle sales are ticking up around the...
A fast-charger in Mesa, Ariz. Photo: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa/AP
The Electric

Meet the Cottage Industry Trying to Make EV Charging Faster

By · Apr 10, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric! For well over a century, people around the world have fueled their automobiles with ease, filling up at will at any nearby gasoline station. This history lies behind the drive to develop fast-charge technology for electric vehicles, and duplicate the gas station experience. This week, we look at the surprisingly... Welcome back to The Electric! For well over a century, people around the world have fueled their...
Jeff Dahn's new brainchild is the "century battery." Photo: Courtesy Dalhousie University
The Electric

Introducing the 36-Million-Mile 'Century Battery' for EVs

By · Apr 3, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric! You’ve probably heard of the million-mile battery, the effort by automobile companies such as Tesla and General Motors to put electric vehicles with extremely long life on the road. In this week's edition, the inventor of the million-mile battery ups his game with a surprising new concept. Correction: In... Welcome back to The Electric! You’ve probably heard of the million-mile battery, the effort...
Enovix's silicon cell containment system. Photo: Courtesy Enovix
The Electric Flash Analysis: Enovix Claims Safety and Energy Density Breakthroughs for Silicon-Based Batteries
By Steve LeVine · Mar 30, 2022 4:30am PDT
Enovix's silicon cell containment system. Photo: Courtesy Enovix
The Electric

The Electric Flash Analysis: Enovix Claims Safety and Energy Density Breakthroughs for Silicon-Based Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Mar 30, 2022 4:30am PDT
Enovix, a Fremont, Calif., battery company, claimed this week that its silicon anode can outdo rival pure lithium-metal technology, which has gained favor among major automakers searching for the next generation of batteries to power electric vehicles.The company’s chief technology officer, Ashok Lahiri, said Enovix’s silicon-based battery... Enovix, a Fremont, Calif., battery company, claimed this week that its silicon anode can outdo...
Illustration: Haejin Park/The Information
The Electric

The Electric Quarterly: China Tightens Its Grip on U.S. and European EV Makers

By Steve LeVine · Mar 27, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric!The year is just three months old, yet a torrent of events has already happened and new trends have taken shape. To help make sense of it all and connect the dots, below you will find the first issue of The Electric Quarterly, a four-times-a-year special edition of the publication that both wraps up the most recent... Welcome back to The Electric!The year is just three months old, yet a torrent of events has...
The Electric Newsletter
An exclusive publication covering the nascent battery and electric vehicle revolutions.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
On Battery Day, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and top deputy Drew Baglino promised a 56% cut in battery costs. Photo: Screenshot
The Electric

Tesla’s Rivals Are Finally in the Fight but Are Still Struggling to Catch Up

By · Mar 20, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric!Coming on Tuesday: The electric vehicle race often looks like a competition among companies fighting to be first to the same technologies. That’s why I’m excited to host Mujeeb Ijaz, founder of Our Next Energy, as my next guest on Live Chat With The Electric. One of the sharpest minds in the field today, Ijaz has... Welcome back to The Electric!Coming on Tuesday: The electric vehicle race often looks like a...
At Norilsk Nickel's plant in Nadezhda, Russia. Norilsk produces 15%-20% of the world's battery-grade nickel. Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
The Electric

Winners and Losers From Russia’s War, Spike in Oil Prices

By · Mar 13, 2022 2:00pm PDT
Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: Tesla and China are far in the lead in the global electric vehicle race. How to compete against them? One way is to invent an entirely new battery that bypasses the assumptions on which almost everyone else is relying. For the next live chat, I’m delighted to host Mujeeb Ijaz, founder and CEO of... Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: Tesla and China are far in the lead in the...
Johnson Matthew's eLNO business is up for sale. Photo: Courtesy Johnson Matthey
The Electric Flash Analysis: Amid the Nickel Crisis, EV Makers Inexplicably Ignored the Only Non-Nickel Battery Plant in the West
By Steve LeVine · Mar 9, 2022 1:48pm PST
Johnson Matthew's eLNO business is up for sale. Photo: Courtesy Johnson Matthey
The Electric

The Electric Flash Analysis: Amid the Nickel Crisis, EV Makers Inexplicably Ignored the Only Non-Nickel Battery Plant in the West

By Steve LeVine · Mar 9, 2022 1:48pm PST
Last fall, Johnson Matthey, a U.K. chemical company, said it was selling its Canadian lithium-iron-phosphate cathode plant, the only one of its kind in the U.S. or Europe. The divestment seemed propitious: Tesla and several major Western electric vehicle makers had already announced a massive shift to cheap iron-based batteries (known as LFP),... Last fall, Johnson Matthey, a U.K. chemical company, said it was selling its Canadian...
Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The Electric

Why EV Battery Makers Need to Start Using Machine Learning

By Steve LeVine · Mar 6, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! At a time of fast transformation of the transportation system, the lithium-ion battery industry is still largely mired in decades-old ways of invention and development. This week, we look at companies that are using “small data” to create artificial intelligence algorithms and accelerate battery development.In... Welcome back to The Electric! At a time of fast transformation of the transportation system,...
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and deputy Drew Baglino on Battery Day in September 2020. Photo: Screenshot
The Electric

Three EV Battery ‘Reinvention’ Startups That Tesla’s Rivals Should Buy or Mimic

By · Feb 27, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric!This week we look at attempts by a small number of U.S. and Canadian companies to leapfrog China’s hold on the battery manufacturing industry—by reinventing how batteries are made.Aaron Bent, CEO of 6K, a battery materials manufacturer, says his company has vastly compressed the laborious two to three days of work... Welcome back to The Electric!This week we look at attempts by a small number of U.S. and Canadian...
The Electric Newsletter
An exclusive publication covering the nascent battery and electric vehicle revolutions.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
In the 1910s and 1920s, the Ford Model T cracked open the automobile market for the masses. Photo: Courtesy William Creswell/Creative Commons
The Electric

Tesla and Its Rivals Don’t Want to Make Cheap EVs. That Choice Will Come Back to Haunt Them

By · Feb 20, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric!Be sure to register for the live chat at noon on Thursday: “The Straight Dope on the New Oil—Lithium.” My guest will be Joe Lowry, CEO of Global Lithium and one of the world’s foremost experts on the metal. Is there a shortage of lithium? Joe says the answer is yes—and that it will last through the decade. Tune... Welcome back to The Electric!Be sure to register for the live chat at noon on Thursday: “The...
At a Hero Electric charging station in New Delhi. Photo: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
The $50 Billion Electric Van Bonanza That Western Automakers Are Ignoring
By Steve LeVine · Feb 13, 2022 2:00pm PST
At a Hero Electric charging station in New Delhi. Photo: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
The Electric

The $50 Billion Electric Van Bonanza That Western Automakers Are Ignoring

By Steve LeVine · Feb 13, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric!We have two big live chats scheduled: At noon ET on Feb. 17, I’m delighted to welcome Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One Materials, for a pop-up chat, “Reinventing the Battery Supply Chain,” on how the U.S. and Europe can leapfrog China and its lock on the refining of battery metals and manufacture of electrodes. Register... Welcome back to The Electric!We have two big live chats scheduled: At noon ET on Feb. 17, I’m...
Jagdeep Singh, CEO of QuantumScape. Photo: Courtesy QuantumScape
The Electric

QuantumScape’s Fast-Charging Claims Have Sparked a Backlash

By Steve LeVine · Feb 6, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: As it has done for decades with oil and OPEC, the world is relying on a single point of supply for its future electric vehicle batteries—China. But how can the U.S. and Europe catch up and establish their own, competitive battery metals supply chain? One answer: by reinventing how battery metals... Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: As it has done for decades with oil and OPEC,...
Left to right, Redwood Materials' JB Straubel, Northvolt's Paolo Cerruti and Peter Carlsson, American Battery's Ryan Melsert, and QuantumScape's Celina Mikolajczak. Photos: Bloomberg, Northvolt, ABTC, QuantumScape. Art by Mike Sullivan.
The Electric

Meet the 12 Tesla Diaspora Members Building Battery Supply Chains That Carmakers Won’t

By · Jan 30, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! For months, I’ve been discussing the shortage and price spike in battery metals, and how it puts the U.S. and Europe at a sharp competitive disadvantage to China. But I have not mentioned a particular group of companies that’s attempting to tackle this problem. Today I profile these three companies and the... Welcome back to The Electric! For months, I’ve been discussing the shortage and price spike...
VW is aiming the ID.4 at mainstream consumers. Photo: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
The Electric

What GM, Ford and VW Need to Do to Avoid Selling EVs At a Loss

By · Jan 23, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! The spiking cost of battery metals is wreaking havoc on the expected economics of early electric vehicles. This week, we look at some of the strategies the automakers will have to undertake to avoid huge losses on their sales. Major automakers seem prepared to proceed on schedule with the collective launch... Welcome back to The Electric! The spiking cost of battery metals is wreaking havoc on the...
The Electric Newsletter
An exclusive publication covering the nascent battery and electric vehicle revolutions.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
Syrah gets its graphite from Balama, Mozambique. Photo: Courtesy Syrah
A rare, little-noticed bright spot of nimble producers of graphite—the most prominent ingredient in EV batteries—has bubbled up in the U.S. and Europe.
By Steve LeVine · Jan 16, 2022 2:00pm PST
Syrah gets its graphite from Balama, Mozambique. Photo: Courtesy Syrah
The Electric

A rare, little-noticed bright spot of nimble producers of graphite—the most prominent ingredient in EV batteries—has bubbled up in the U.S. and Europe.

By Steve LeVine · Jan 16, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! This Friday: Who is the Most Aggressive EV Company Not Named Tesla? It’s Volkswagen. For the next Live Chat, I’m excited to welcome Thomas Schmall, VW’s head of technology and member of the company’s board of management. Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET. Register here to get your link. For weeks we’ve been... Welcome back to The Electric! This Friday: Who is the Most Aggressive EV Company Not Named...
Exploration drilling at the Tamarack nickel deposit. Photo: Courtesy Talon Metals
The Electric

The Electric Flash Analysis: Tesla Strikes First U.S. Nickel Deal, Increasing Its Battery Lead Over Ford, GM

By Steve LeVine · Jan 10, 2022 6:17pm PST
In one of the first deals to break China’s almost total grip on the global supply of battery metals, Tesla on Monday agreed to buy enough nickel from a Minnesota mine to equip about 1 million electric vehicles—roughly the same number of EVs it delivered to customers last year. The mine will also become one of the first U.S.-based sources of EV... In one of the first deals to break China’s almost total grip on the global supply of battery...
Li-Cycle's recycling plant in Kingston, Canada. Photo: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg
The Electric

Tesla’s Scrap Hell Helps Explain Battery-Recycling Deals by Ford and GM

By · Jan 9, 2022 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date and register: One establishment automaker stands out in its determination to compete with runaway industry leader Tesla. It's Volkswagen. In that spirit, I'm excited to welcome VW's Thomas Schmall, chief of technology for the company as a member of its Board of Management, as my guest for the next... Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date and register: One establishment automaker stands...
Polestar's first model, the Polestar 1, released in 2018. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The Electric

How Chinese EV and Battery Makers Will Break Into the U.S.

By · Jan 2, 2022 2:00pm PST
Happy 2022 and welcome back to The Electric! In response to the end-year reader survey, we will be adding features to your subscription as the year unfolds. One of them will be The Electric Quarterly, a four-times-a-year special edition making sense of the quarter and year to date, and looking forward to what comes next. Stay tuned for... Happy 2022 and welcome back to The Electric! In response to the end-year reader survey, we...
Salt mounds in the mining operations of Chile's lithium-rich Atacama Desert. Photo: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
“Go F—ing Solve It Yourself”: Four EV Battery Startups Worth Watching
By Steve LeVine · Dec 19, 2021 2:00pm PST
Salt mounds in the mining operations of Chile's lithium-rich Atacama Desert. Photo: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
The Electric

“Go F—ing Solve It Yourself”: Four EV Battery Startups Worth Watching

By Steve LeVine · Dec 19, 2021 2:00pm PST
Welcome back to The Electric!This is the last issue of 2021. Thanks so much for joining the beta, and for the many suggestions for improving The Electric. I'd be grateful if you don't mind taking a moment to complete this very brief survey so we can get even better. Finally, do tell your friends and colleagues about The Electric! Have a... Welcome back to The Electric!This is the last issue of 2021. Thanks so much for joining the beta,...