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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

China's ADA Space plans to launch 2,800 of these satellites into space to make up a data center constellation. Photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Getty

The Electric: This Chinese Startup Has Already Put a Data Center In Space

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he is in the vanguard of the next big thing—the establishment of AI data centers in space. Sorry, Elon, a Chinese startup got there first. With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he...

A home battery in Houston, which has been hit hard by power outages in recent years. Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty

The Electric: Amid the Flurries, Home Battery Installers Are Going After Grid and Data Center Demand

By Steve LeVine · Feb 2, 2026 4:30am PST

Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid across the Northeastern U.S. states and inland as far as Virginia, leaving utilities to ask customers to curtail their use of power and causing thousands of homes to go dark. Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a full pivot away from electric vehicles. Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: Musk Talks Up Optimus, But Tesla's 2025 Was Saved By Plain Old Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Jan 29, 2026 4:38am PST · 1 comment

Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus robot. As for revenue today, one of the company’s few bright spots is batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus...

U.S. battery startups are finding eager manufacturing capacity in China. Photo: Lin Xin/VCG/Getty

The Electric: Idle Chinese Plants Are Inviting Business With U.S. Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Jan 26, 2026 4:30am PST

U.S. battery startups are finding eager manufacturing capacity in China. Photo: Lin Xin/VCG/Getty

The Electric: Idle Chinese Plants Are Inviting Business With U.S. Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Jan 26, 2026 4:30am PST

A free-for-all of factory expansion among China’s battery manufacturers has left more than 40% of the country’s battery plants idle. That has presented a prime opportunity for a nascent wave of Western startups to capitalize on the Chinese battery makers’ misery. A free-for-all of factory expansion among China’s battery manufacturers has left more than 40% of...

Millions of these metals-rich nodules are strewn across the seafloor three miles below the surface of the Pacific. Photo: Carolyn Cole / L.A. Times/Getty

The Electric: Trump Expedites Deep Sea Mining of Critical Minerals

By Steve LeVine · Jan 22, 2026 4:30am PST

Startup Western mining companies got key U.S. support Wednesday in their yearslong effort to extract copper, cobalt and other key metals from the deep Pacific seabed, a move intended to accelerate non-Chinese supplies for tech and defense companies. Startup Western mining companies got key U.S. support Wednesday in their yearslong effort to...

Northern Graphite's mine in Lac-des-Iles, Quebec. Photo: Sebastien St-Jean/AFP/Getty

The Electric: A Big Deal in Saudi Arabia Sent This Graphite Miner’s Shares Soaring

By Steve LeVine · Jan 19, 2026 4:30am PST

For more than two decades, Northern Graphite has plodded along as a middling if sometimes plucky Canadian mining company. Then last week, Northern said its revenue would jump eightfold to $250 million in the next few years as it shifts from merely mining graphite to processing it into the final material used to make battery anodes. The news... For more than two decades, Northern Graphite has plodded along as a middling if sometimes plucky...

CATL battery factory in Arnstadt, Germany. Photo: Nicolo Lanfranchi/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: China’s Moves Are Likely to Make Its Big Battery Makers Even Bigger

By Steve LeVine · Jan 15, 2026 4:30am PST

Days before China this week announced record exports, it moved to temper global anger over its flood of cheap products going overseas: It killed tax subsidies on exports of batteries and solar panels. Days before China this week announced record exports, it moved to temper global anger over its...

StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf. Photo: Courtesy StoreDot

The Electric: This Battery Startup’s New Approach to Survival—Go Public

By Steve LeVine · Jan 12, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf. Photo: Courtesy StoreDot

The Electric: This Battery Startup’s New Approach to Survival—Go Public

By Steve LeVine · Jan 12, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli battery startup, on its feet until he could land some big expected contracts. Nothing worked. Now the CEO has decided on a different route to staying afloat: listing the company on the Nasdaq. For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli...

The Petropiar oil refinery in Venezuela's Anzoategui State, in which Chevron owns a 30% share. Photo: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: In Venezuela, Trump Doubles Down on a Bet Scorning the Emerging Electric Economy

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2026 4:30am PST

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely.” For starters, the South American nation will hand over more than $2 billion in crude oil to the U.S., about 15% of its annual production, apparently in exchange for a friendlier attitude from President Donald Trump. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “...

SES AI CEO Qichao Hu. Photo: Courtesy SES AI.

The Electric: Rebranded as Defense Manufacturers, Next-Gen Battery Startups Are Finally Earning Revenue

By Steve LeVine · Dec 29, 2025 4:30am PST

Drones, AI data centers and the power grid are almost all anyone in the battery industry can talk about. Drones, AI data centers and the power grid are almost all anyone in the battery industry can talk...

Ford has canceled the electric F-150 pickup and will reintroduce it as an extend-drive hybrid. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty

The Electric: Ford’s Leap Into Powering AI Data Centers Reflects an Industry Adrift

By Steve LeVine · Dec 22, 2025 4:30am PST

In Ford’s third-quarter earnings call in October, Ford CEO Jim Farley was typically optimistic about the company’s prospects for selling electric vehicles, predicting that a planned midsize electric pickup, to be released in 2027, would wow customers. In Ford’s third-quarter earnings call in October, Ford CEO Jim Farley was typically optimistic...

Beta's conventionally flying electric aircraft. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The First Flying Electric Taxis Next Year Are Likely to Act More Like Planes Than Helicopters

By Steve LeVine · Dec 18, 2025 4:30am PST

Beta's conventionally flying electric aircraft. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The First Flying Electric Taxis Next Year Are Likely to Act More Like Planes Than Helicopters

By Steve LeVine · Dec 18, 2025 4:30am PST

For years, electric air taxi startups have flaunted prototypes of futuristic aircraft that look like space ships and fly like helicopters. They are supposed to fly streams of passengers from downtowns to airports and other nearby places quickly and quietly. For years, electric air taxi startups have flaunted prototypes of futuristic aircraft that look...

A Nokia drone. Photo: Courtesy Nokia

The Electric: Nokia’s Battery Choice Reflects a Sudden Lifeline to Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Dec 15, 2025 4:30am PST

Thomas Eder, head of embedded wireless solutions at Nokia, was hunting for a better battery to power the Finnish company’s industrial drones, so they could stay in the air longer and be easier to recharge. Thomas Eder, head of embedded wireless solutions at Nokia, was hunting for a better battery to...

A stationary storage production line in Luoyang, China. Photo:VCG/Getty

The Electric: Batteries for AI Data Centers Have Dropped 45% In Price This Year

By Steve LeVine · Dec 11, 2025 4:30am PST

Last month, a senior Chinese government official told a gathering of a dozen of the country’s battery titans to scale back their “irrational” price war. One of the reasons: Their cutthroat competition had driven a startling 45% drop this year in the price of stationary storage batteries, used to back up electricity grids and AI data centers. The... Last month, a senior Chinese government official told a gathering of a dozen of the country’s...

A pre-commercial version of Archer's Midnight. Photo: Courtesy Archer

The Electric: How Archer Aviation Has Ceded the Lead to Air Taxi Rival Joby Aviation

By Steve LeVine · Dec 8, 2025 4:30am PST

Archer Aviation has been on a roll. It has cut electric air taxi deals in Japan and with Florida billionaire investor Stephen Ross. Last month, it received its first revenue from Abu Dhabi as part of plans to begin commercial air taxi flights next year there, too. Archer Aviation has been on a roll. It has cut electric air taxi deals in Japan and with Florida...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered a halt to the price wars in batteries, electric vehicles and solar. Photo: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/Getty

The Electric: The Winners and Losers in China's Crackdown on the Battery Price War

By Steve LeVine · Dec 4, 2025 4:30am PST

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered a halt to the price wars in batteries, electric vehicles and solar. Photo: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/Getty

The Electric: The Winners and Losers in China's Crackdown on the Battery Price War

By Steve LeVine · Dec 4, 2025 4:30am PST

In July, Beijing ordered a halt to a brutal price war that was roiling China’s electric vehicle industry. Now China’s leaders have told cutthroat battery makers to knock it off, too. In July, Beijing ordered a halt to a brutal price war that was roiling China’s electric vehicle...

Chinese battery giant CATL's aggressive price cuts have forced U.S. startups to seek manufacturing partnerships in China. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: Failing to Score Big Sales in the West, U.S. Battery Startups Are Going to China

By Steve LeVine · Dec 1, 2025 4:30am PST

In the U.S. battery industry’s go-go days in 2021, Sepion Technologies raised an $18.7 million Series A round, sufficient capital to build a pilot manufacturing line and ship sample cells that seemed to garner a promising reception from multiple potential customers. In the U.S. battery industry’s go-go days in 2021, Sepion Technologies raised an $18.7 million...

A Base Power home battery. Photo: Courtesy Base.

The Electric: Zach Dell Joins a Group of Tech Scions Seeking to Shake Up Big Industries

By Steve LeVine · Nov 24, 2025 4:30am PST

Zach Dell’s father, Michael Dell, is one of his era’s most disruptive entrepreneurs—a visionary who shook up the personal computer business four decades ago. But that’s not who Zach speaks of emulating with Base Power, a Texas startup he co-founded to lease home backup batteries to consumers. Zach Dell’s father, Michael Dell, is one of his era’s most disruptive entrepreneurs—a visionary...

Keeping an EV in a city can be a struggle. Photo: Gary Hershorn/Getty

The Electric: Look for Gasoline Cars to be Crowding Roads for Decades Longer

By Steve LeVine · Nov 20, 2025 4:30am PST · 2 comments

On Tuesday, Paul Sankey, a longtime oil analyst based in Brooklyn, N.Y., dropped by a local dealer to turn in a traditional Audi sedan he had leased. But as he did so, a new subcompact SUV from the German automaker caught his eye—a white combustion model he thought his wife would like. Sankey signed a new lease for the SUV. On Tuesday, Paul Sankey, a longtime oil analyst based in Brooklyn, N.Y., dropped by a local...

Joby and L3's jointly made prototype hybrid electric aircraft, aimed at the Pentagon. Photo: Courtesy Joby Aviation.

The Electric: Air Taxi Makers Are Seeking to be the Latest Defense Contractors

By Steve LeVine · Nov 17, 2025 4:30am PST · 1 comment

Joby and L3's jointly made prototype hybrid electric aircraft, aimed at the Pentagon. Photo: Courtesy Joby Aviation.

The Electric: Air Taxi Makers Are Seeking to be the Latest Defense Contractors

By Steve LeVine · Nov 17, 2025 4:30am PST · 1 comment

An aggressive new acquisition policy at the Pentagon appears to have strengthened the chances that electric air taxi startups Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation will win contracts to produce a new generation of hybrid aircraft for use in war zones. An aggressive new acquisition policy at the Pentagon appears to have strengthened the chances...