May 23, 2023
Let's say we could fix each of the inherently prohibitive challenges of electric vehicles. For instance, we could discover replacements for graphite, nickel, aluminum, cobalt, lithium, manganese and other rare minerals necessary for powering EV batteries. These minerals are mined principally in China and in some African countries (that China owns or will soon possess). China controls 70 percent of the rare-earth mineral market. Bloomberg correctly called this situation a Chinese "chokehold" on the world. But let's lay aside facts for fantasy for just a bit. Let's say we could mine those minerals in the U.S. or the Western Hemisphere. If that were so, we would still need to dream some more. Let's say the charging technology could advance - and quickly, and without known and unknown consequences colliding head-on with the economic fragility of the poorest and most vulnerable among us - so that EVs could be charged in less time, with longer battery life, and with