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 Whoop 4.0, containing Sila Nanotechnologies' silicon-carbon anode. Image: Courtesy Whoop

The Electric Flash Analysis: The Customers Many Battery Startups Are Overlooking

By Steve LeVine · Sep 23, 2021 4:00am PDT

If you are worth your salt in the lithium-ion battery business, you are working on a new-generation anode, a cathode, an electrolyte—or all three. You are aiming to both break new ground and earn billions of dollars to boot by powering the electric vehicles that are about to swamp the global market. But what if EVs are a buzzy diversion and the... If you are worth your salt in the lithium-ion battery business, you are working on a...

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Why Elon Musk Should Refund $2.3 Billion to Customers of Full Self-Driving

By Steve LeVine · Sep 19, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Welcome back to the paid beta of The Electric. We're building this for you, so please do let us know what you think. We're eager to hear your feedback, as we aim to create the best source of insight into EVs and battery technology available. Just reply directly to this email. I am always reachable at [email protected]. Why... Welcome back to the paid beta of The Electric. We're building this for you, so please do let...

Ola Electric's launch of its S1 scooter in Bengaluru, India, on Aug. 15. Photo: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg

Indians Are Snapping Up Electric Vehicles—Just Not the Ones Major Automakers Are Selling

By Steve LeVine · Sep 12, 2021 2:00pm PDT

For three decades, the world’s major automakers have been piling into India, tantalized by a teeming population of consumers with rising incomes and relatively few passenger vehicles. In the new age of electric vehicles, the country’s allure has been even greater, representing the last big and all but untapped EV market on the planet. But all of... For three decades, the world’s major automakers have been piling into India, tantalized by a...

The prize from ore-to-gigafactory processing: cathode powder. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Congress Has Slashed Biden’s Vaunted $174 Billion Battery Supply Chain. Now What?

By Steve LeVine · Sep 5, 2021 2:00pm PDT

The prize from ore-to-gigafactory processing: cathode powder. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Congress Has Slashed Biden’s Vaunted $174 Billion Battery Supply Chain. Now What?

By Steve LeVine · Sep 5, 2021 2:00pm PDT

This Wednesday, Sept. 8, at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its second live chat, The Electric is delighted to present a conversation between editor Steve LeVine and Sila Nanotechnologies CEO Gene Berdichevsky, who for a decade and a half has helped lead development of some of the world’s most important commercial... This Wednesday, Sept. 8, at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its...

Nano One CEO Dan Blondal in his "One Pot" pilot factory. Photo: Courtesy Nano One

These Startups Are Reconfiguring the Lithium-ion Battery. Their Aim Is to Beat China.

By Steve LeVine · Aug 29, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Save the Date: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its second live chat, The Electric is delighted to present a conversation between editor Steve LeVine and Sila Nanotechnologies CEO Gene Berdichevsky, who for a decade and a half has helped lead development of some of the world’s most important commercial batteries. Sept.... Save the Date: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its second live chat,...

Image: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/AP

EV Hackers Are Coming—and a Fortune Awaits Their Foes

By Steve LeVine · Aug 22, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Starting around 2025, the world’s cyberspace bad actors will suddenly have a gigantic and fast-expanding new arena in which to operate—some 50 million electric vehicles that by then are expected to be plying roads everywhere, with hundreds of millions more to come in subsequent years. All of them will be connected to the internet through dozens... Starting around 2025, the world’s cyberspace bad actors will suddenly have a gigantic and...

The Chevy Bolt, the subject of two GM recalls because of a possible danger of fire. Photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP

The Electric Flash Analysis: GM Bolt Owners Violate Fire Safety Rules Amid Battery Recall

By Steve LeVine · Aug 18, 2021 1:19pm PDT

GM is replacing the Bolt's battery modules because of a danger of fire. Photo: Gene J. Puskar/APIn the three weeks since General Motors issued a second recall of Chevy Bolts whose batteries may be in danger of catching fire, new data show that a significant minority of Bolt owners didn’t follow the company’s electric-charging guidelines for... GM is replacing the Bolt's battery modules because of a danger of fire. Photo: Gene J....

Lithium-metal batteries may contain LFP by the end of the decade. Photo: QuantumScape

The Electric Flash Analysis: A Surprising, Potent New Battery Would Marry the Old and the New

By Steve LeVine · Aug 17, 2021 7:56am PDT

Lithium-metal batteries may contain LFP by the end of the decade. Photo: QuantumScape

The Electric Flash Analysis: A Surprising, Potent New Battery Would Marry the Old and the New

By Steve LeVine · Aug 17, 2021 7:56am PDT

Leading battery researchers are talking up the idea of a Goldilocks battery that combines one of the most exotic electrodes under commercial development with one of the cheapest. The objective: a dirt-cheap battery that will take an electric vehicle more than 300 miles on a charge, and thus attract a broad swath of mass-market EV buyers.The idea... Leading battery researchers are talking up the idea of a Goldilocks battery that combines one of...

Photo: Courtesy Tesla

The Age of the EV App Store Has Arrived. Now What?

By Steve LeVine · Aug 15, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Last month, Dan Ives, a technology analyst with Wedbush, added what most would consider a decidedly non-tech company to the stable he covers—General Motors, whose share price he forecast would surge 50% over the coming year. GM was no longer a stalwart of a bygone industrial Detroit, but “a broader disruptive technology play that can start to... Last month, Dan Ives, a technology analyst with Wedbush, added what most would consider a...

At the White House, announcing a national goal to sell 50% electric vehicles by 2030. Photo: AP/Evan Vucci

The Electric Flash Analysis: Democrats Have Suddenly Gone Vague on EVs and Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Aug 12, 2021 3:51pm PDT

Only last week, President Joe Biden yet again put a buildout of the U.S. lithium-ion–battery supply chain and electric vehicle industry at the center of federal policy, lining up with auto industry and labor leaders to push for a surge of EV sales by the end of the decade. But such explicit messaging—and spending—is not clearly spelled out in... Only last week, President Joe Biden yet again put a buildout of the U.S. lithium-ion–battery...

The Electric Flash Analysis: Researchers Resurrect the “Air” Battery, But Cost Remains An Issue

By Steve LeVine · Aug 10, 2021 3:00am PDT

Form co-founder Yet-Ming Chiang. Photo by Bloomberg.Two weeks ago, Form Energy, a Massachusetts startup with celebrity founders and funders, attracted much battery industry attention by publicizing an exotic “iron-air battery,” a long-lasting technology it said was so cheap that it would undercut natural gas in electricity generation.Today, a... Form co-founder Yet-Ming Chiang. Photo by Bloomberg.Two weeks ago, Form Energy, a Massachusetts...

The Million-Mile Battery is Really Here. It Will Change Everything

By Steve LeVine · Aug 8, 2021 2:00pm PDT

The Million-Mile Battery is Really Here. It Will Change Everything

By Steve LeVine · Aug 8, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Dalhousie University professor and Tesla lead battery scientist Jeff Dahn. Photo: Dal UWelcome back! Event alert: Please RSVP here for “The New Iron Age,” the inaugural monthly Live Chat with The Electric. On Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET, I will speak with Yet-Ming Chiang, co-founder of some of the most important battery startups of the last dozen... Dalhousie University professor and Tesla lead battery scientist Jeff Dahn. Photo: Dal UWelcome...

Know anyone who'd like The Electric?

By Steve LeVine · Aug 5, 2021 9:17am PDT

Hi! We’re now a few weeks into The Electric, and I hope you’ve found it valuable so far. The full archive is here.I’m writing with a request. I’m hoping that as many people as possible benefit from the free pilot we’re conducting. Until it ends and the paid beta begins, anyone can sign up and read the weekly deep-dives, receive important flash... Hi! We’re now a few weeks into The Electric, and I hope you’ve found it valuable so far. The full...

The Bad News That Elon Musk Shared and Everybody Missed

By Steve LeVine · Aug 1, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and battery chief Drew Baglino at Battery Day. Credit: Steve Jurvetson / FlickrLast week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk crowed about the company’s first $1 billion quarterly profit—its eighth consecutive profitable quarter—and seemed to leave behind the relentless specter of imminent corporate bankruptcy that had previously... Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and battery chief Drew Baglino at Battery Day. Credit: Steve...

The Electric Flash Analysis: Elon Musk’s Shift to Iron-Based Batteries Will Upend EV Industry

By Steve LeVine · Jul 26, 2021 5:14pm PDT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Photo by BloombergHappy Monday!The first three issues of The Electric said the electric vehicle industry would likely shift to cheap lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk just made it official.Musk said in an earnings conference call on Monday that he ultimately expects most of his electric vehicle and... Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Photo by BloombergHappy Monday!The first three issues of The Electric said...

What Electric Vehicle Makers Don’t Get About BYD’s Game-Changing Battery

By Steve LeVine · Jul 25, 2021 2:09pm PDT

What Electric Vehicle Makers Don’t Get About BYD’s Game-Changing Battery

By Steve LeVine · Jul 25, 2021 2:09pm PDT

A BYD Dolphin powered by the Blade battery at the Auto Shanghai show in April. Photo by BloombergWelcome back to The Electric! (Our first two issues can be found here.)Save the date: We are excited to announce The Electric's first live video event on Aug. 10 at 11 a.m. PT with Yet-Ming Chiang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor... A BYD Dolphin powered by the Blade battery at the Auto Shanghai show in April. Photo by Bloomberg...

The Electric Flash Analysis: Why GM’s Bolt Recall Is a Bigger Crisis Than You Think

By Steve LeVine · Jul 23, 2021 2:32pm PDT

By issuing a recall of 69,000 electric Bolts on Friday following a series of battery-induced fires, General Motors was trying to stave off a potential crisis. But the totality of GM’s response to the problem has been so inadequate that it risks a crisis of confidence among its EV customers anyway.GM’s muddled response began in November, when it... By issuing a recall of 69,000 electric Bolts on Friday following a series of battery-induced...

Why Elon Musk Has Bet on Asian Battery Makers Over American Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Jul 18, 2021 2:31pm PDT

American battery pioneer John Goodenough in 2019. Photo by APGood evening and welcome to the second issue of The Electric! (The first issue can be found here.)In 1980, John Goodenough, an American professor running the inorganic chemistry lab at Oxford University, discovered the lithium-cobalt-oxide cathode, a battery electrode whose unusual... American battery pioneer John Goodenough in 2019. Photo by APGood evening and welcome to the...

The Electric, Vol. 1: Why Billions of Dollars of EV Battery Investments Are Suddenly at Risk

By Steve LeVine · Jul 11, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Henry Ford with the first and ten millionth Ford car, 1924. Credit: Library of CongressThe Electric is a new premium service, from Steve LeVine and The Information, focused on one of the most important and least-covered groupings of industries on the planet—next-generation batteries, electric vehicles and autonomous driving—and how they will... Henry Ford with the first and ten millionth Ford car, 1924. Credit: Library of CongressThe...