A good analysis of the evolution of the EV industry in China. Elon has to be gritting his teeth in frustration. And this was accomplished without the leadership of the Party as well. The world is full of surprises. It is all to easy for the US to dismiss the PRC as an authoritarian regime that controls everything but here that does not seem to be the case.
I would say that Chinese people remain grateful to Musk for building the Shanghai Gigafactory. His decision to locate the plant there helped rapidly knit together China’s previously fragmented electric-vehicle supply chain.
When it comes to Tesla, the Chinese government and Musk may be able to maintain a delicate tacit understanding. After all, the two sides have a history of mutually beneficial cooperation—and the Shanghai factory pays roughly $239 million in taxes each year.
Yes. Western media continues describing China as this monolithic entity with a central control tower, but history and living in China teaches that isn't the case.
Really enjoyed this, thanks!. I found it especially useful for understanding what sits behind the EV ecosystem I’m now experiencing in China. I only moved here about a year ago, and after roughly three decades of driving petrol cars in different countries, I recently made the switch to an EV after thinking about it for quite a while. From the driver’s seat, it’s easy to see today’s charging networks, technology and huge variety of EVs simply as “how things are” in China. This article gave me a much better appreciation of the rather messy combination of local governments, entrepreneurs, capital and experimentation that actually produced it. Thanks for such a fascinating piece.
Wonderful post. Seems to me that it comes closer to understanding the Chinese way of enterprise than anything I have read. I found myself much amused, had a good laugh here and there at the ingenuity and determination of people to fight their way through the maze. And the Chinese maze is unique. A great story. I do love the fact that Mao could stimulate grass roots effort and that opened up horizons that didn't exist and bore fruit in the long run. The Chinese are born to be engineers. It's a story about determination, about finding a workaround that is the human sprit personified. This doesn't seem possible in more 'settled', more regimented societies weighed down by the persistence of hereditary elites or the existence of monopolies where rent accrues to the same families across the generations. As a farmer myself I appreciate that there are lots of uses for a piece of wire.
A good analysis of the evolution of the EV industry in China. Elon has to be gritting his teeth in frustration. And this was accomplished without the leadership of the Party as well. The world is full of surprises. It is all to easy for the US to dismiss the PRC as an authoritarian regime that controls everything but here that does not seem to be the case.
I would say that Chinese people remain grateful to Musk for building the Shanghai Gigafactory. His decision to locate the plant there helped rapidly knit together China’s previously fragmented electric-vehicle supply chain.
When it comes to Tesla, the Chinese government and Musk may be able to maintain a delicate tacit understanding. After all, the two sides have a history of mutually beneficial cooperation—and the Shanghai factory pays roughly $239 million in taxes each year.
Yes. Western media continues describing China as this monolithic entity with a central control tower, but history and living in China teaches that isn't the case.
Great piece, thanks much. This tells more about China than what is just on the surface.
Really enjoyed this, thanks!. I found it especially useful for understanding what sits behind the EV ecosystem I’m now experiencing in China. I only moved here about a year ago, and after roughly three decades of driving petrol cars in different countries, I recently made the switch to an EV after thinking about it for quite a while. From the driver’s seat, it’s easy to see today’s charging networks, technology and huge variety of EVs simply as “how things are” in China. This article gave me a much better appreciation of the rather messy combination of local governments, entrepreneurs, capital and experimentation that actually produced it. Thanks for such a fascinating piece.
Wonderful post. Seems to me that it comes closer to understanding the Chinese way of enterprise than anything I have read. I found myself much amused, had a good laugh here and there at the ingenuity and determination of people to fight their way through the maze. And the Chinese maze is unique. A great story. I do love the fact that Mao could stimulate grass roots effort and that opened up horizons that didn't exist and bore fruit in the long run. The Chinese are born to be engineers. It's a story about determination, about finding a workaround that is the human sprit personified. This doesn't seem possible in more 'settled', more regimented societies weighed down by the persistence of hereditary elites or the existence of monopolies where rent accrues to the same families across the generations. As a farmer myself I appreciate that there are lots of uses for a piece of wire.
They steered toward electrics because at the time competing on ICE was a nonstarter.
Those Chinese characteristics become more fascinating daily. They just might be on to something....