The Electric by Steve LeVine — The Information

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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

The electric Lucid Air, which starts at a base price of $77,400. Photo: RW/MediaPunch/IPX/AP

Do EV Battery Costs Truly No Longer Matter?

By Steve LeVine · May 1, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Welcome back to The Electric!Coming on Tuesday at noon ET: A mania has erupted in India over electric vehicles—two-wheel scooters that are seemingly everywhere in the country. At the forefront is Hero Electric and its pioneering CEO, Naveen Munjal. I’m delighted to host Munjal for the next Live Chat. Register here to join the conversation.An... Welcome back to The Electric!Coming on Tuesday at noon ET: A mania has erupted in India over...

Photo: Yichuan Cao/Sipa/AP

A Shrewder Musk Would Have Bought a Lithium Mine

By Steve LeVine · Apr 26, 2022 4:02am PDT

The electric vehicle industry is in a supply crisis: There is not nearly enough raw nickel, lithium and other metals and minerals to build the batteries for the millions of EVs that the industry envisions selling this decade. Every Western EV and battery manufacturer on the planet is more or less in the same jam—none has sufficient battery raw... The electric vehicle industry is in a supply crisis: There is not nearly enough raw nickel,...

A lithium brine pool in Calama, Chile, run by Albemarle. Photo: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg

Just How Many EVs Can Be Made? Far Fewer Than Expected

By Steve LeVine · Apr 24, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Save the date: In large parts of the world, when you say “electric vehicle” you don’t mean a car or an SUV, but a scooter—a two-wheeler, as they are better known. And today’s greatest two-wheeler mania of all is perhaps in India, pioneered by Hero Electric, the country’s largest manufacturer of electric two-wheelers, and its managing director, ... Save the date: In large parts of the world, when you say “electric vehicle” you don’t mean a car...

If you want 300 miles of range in your new electric Ford-150 Lightning Lariat, prices start at $77,000. The first deliveries are next week. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

There May Be a Limit to Demand for EVs After All

By Steve LeVine · Apr 20, 2022 4:30am PDT

If you want 300 miles of range in your new electric Ford-150 Lightning Lariat, prices start at $77,000. The first deliveries are next week. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

There May Be a Limit to Demand for EVs After All

By Steve LeVine · Apr 20, 2022 4:30am PDT

The Electric's coverage is expanding. Starting this week, we will feature one or two additional pieces during the week, including coverage of the Chinese battery and electric vehicle industry. This is on top of The Electric Quarterly, which launched last month. As always, I love to hear any suggestions, comments, or tips. Just email... The Electric's coverage is expanding. Starting this week, we will feature one or two additional...

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

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

Meet the Cottage Industry Trying to Make EV Charging Faster

By Steve LeVine · 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

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

By Steve LeVine · 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 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 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...

On Battery Day, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and top deputy Drew Baglino promised a 56% cut in battery costs. Photo: Screenshot

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

By Steve LeVine · 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

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

By Steve LeVine · 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 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

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

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

By Steve LeVine · 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...

In the 1910s and 1920s, the Ford Model T cracked open the automobile market for the masses. Photo: Courtesy William Creswell/Creative Commons

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

By Steve LeVine · 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 $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

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.

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

By Steve LeVine · 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

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

By Steve LeVine · 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...

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

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...