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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

One possible target for the new LMR battery is GM's electric Cadillac Escalade. Photo: Courtesy GM.

The Electric: With a Manganese War, GM and Ford Take Aim at China’s Battery Grip

By Steve LeVine · May 15, 2025 4:30am PDT

In a surprising dual strike at China’s grip on the global electric vehicle battery industry, General Motors and Ford have both unveiled manganese-led batteries that could shoulder aside incumbent chemistries dominated by China’s behemoths. In a surprising dual strike at China’s grip on the global electric vehicle battery industry, ...

Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory, run in partnership with Panasonic. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty

The Electric: Three Gigafactory Experts Weigh In on What the West Needs to Do

By Steve LeVine · May 12, 2025 4:30am PDT

In 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk contracted with Japan’s Panasonic to make batteries for his next electric vehicle, the Model 3, at a new plant outside Reno, Nev. It was a big get for a relatively unproven automaker: Panasonic had been making lithium-ion batteries for two decades and was one of the world’s top producers. In 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk contracted with Japan’s Panasonic to make batteries for his next...

Coreshell Technologies headquarters in San Leandro, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Coreshell

Exclusive From The Electric: With a Poached Gigafactory Veteran, Coreshell Looks for Manufacturing Street Cred

By Steve LeVine · May 8, 2025 4:30am PDT

Asia’s battery powerhouses have frightened many next-generation Western startups into abandoning their ambitions to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. But California-based silicon anode developer Coreshell Technologies is pushing ahead with a well-tested survival strategy: It has poached a key South Korean gigafactory expert to help take on... Asia’s battery powerhouses have frightened many next-generation Western startups into abandoning...

Rendering of Epsilon's planned synthetic graphite plant in North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy Epsilon.

The Electric: These U.S. Battery Companies Think Full-Throttle Tariffs Are Great

By Steve LeVine · May 5, 2025 4:30am PDT

Rendering of Epsilon's planned synthetic graphite plant in North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy Epsilon.

The Electric: These U.S. Battery Companies Think Full-Throttle Tariffs Are Great

By Steve LeVine · May 5, 2025 4:30am PDT

A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump doesn’t seriously scale back or—better yet—eliminate the double- and triple-digit tariffs he has tacked onto imports. But Vikram Handa, managing director of Epsilon Carbon, isn’t one of them. Handa, whose India-based company is building a $650... A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump...

Polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific. Photo: Courtesy The Metals Co.

The Electric: In His First Months, Trump Has Built on Biden’s Battery Policy

By Steve LeVine · May 1, 2025 4:30am PDT

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has denigrated electric vehicles and imposed tariffs on EV and battery parts that will make it far harder for carmakers to earn profits on the sale of the vehicles. But his first 100 days in power have been a clear winner for one segment of the industry—the miners and processors of the handful of... Since taking office, President Donald Trump has denigrated electric vehicles and imposed tariffs...

Ford's electric F-150 Lightning. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty

The Electric: With a Big Battery Claim, Ford Tries to Compete With the Chinese

By Steve LeVine · Apr 28, 2025 4:30am PDT

Ford has thrown its hat into the high-stakes global contest to shake up the electric vehicle industry, unveiling a battery that in just a few years’ time—if it can be scaled up cheaply—would challenge the primacy of nickel-based batteries that power most EVs in the West. Ford has thrown its hat into the high-stakes global contest to shake up the electric vehicle...

Elon Musk and his son X Æ walk off Marine One. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty

The Electric: A Reset for Tesla? Musk Pledges Focus But Robotaxi Remains Fuzzy

By Steve LeVine · Apr 24, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

The market-moving news from Tesla’s earnings call was Elon Musk promising to spend more time at the car company and less in Washington. It helped send the stock up nearly 8% on Wednesday, and it turned the outlook of even recently critical analysts positive again. Among them was Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives, who said the damage Musk had... The market-moving news from Tesla’s earnings call was Elon Musk promising to spend more time at...

Bedrock Materials headquarters, Chicago. Photo: Courtesy Bedrock

The Electric: Why Bedrock Materials Returned Its Seed Funding to Investors

By Steve LeVine · Apr 21, 2025 6:22am PDT

Bedrock Materials headquarters, Chicago. Photo: Courtesy Bedrock

The Electric: Why Bedrock Materials Returned Its Seed Funding to Investors

By Steve LeVine · Apr 21, 2025 6:22am PDT

In a Linkedin post early this month, Bedrock Materials CEO Spencer Gore announced he was shutting down less than two years after launching the sodium-ion battery startup. He will return most of the $9 million in seed round funds he had raised back to investors. In a Linkedin post early this month, Bedrock Materials CEO Spencer Gore announced he was shutting...

Tesla's Robotaxi. Photo: Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty

The Electric: Inside Tesla, Analysts Predicted the Robotaxi Could Lose Money

By Steve LeVine · Apr 17, 2025 4:30am PDT · 2 comments

A little over a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk killed the mainstream $25,000 crossover SUV for families and pivoted the company to driverless Robotaxis and other artificial intelligence products. That decision has continued relevance for investors who are looking for Tesla—its share price down 36% this year amid declining vehicle sales—to release... A little over a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk killed the mainstream $25,000 crossover SUV for...

A Clarios battery manufacturing plant. Courtesy: Clarios

The Electric: Some Investors Are Using IRA Tax Credits to Pay Themselves

By Steve LeVine and Ken Brown · Apr 14, 2025 4:30am PDT

Since 2021, lead-acid battery maker Clarios has been talking about going public. But in January, the company said it was scrapping its plans for an initial public offering. That would normally have been a blow to the company’s owners, private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management and Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du... Since 2021, lead-acid battery maker Clarios has been talking about going public. But in January,...

Byd founder Wang Chuanfu. Photo: Getty

The Electric: Battery Hands Are Skeptical of Byd’s Claim of Five-Minute Charging

By Steve LeVine · Apr 3, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Last month, China’s Byd said it would soon release two electric vehicles capable of charging in five minutes—not much longer than the time it takes to fill a gas tank. The assertion caught rivals uncomfortably off guard, especially companies in the West, where the fastest competing EVs charge to 80% of capacity in roughly 20 minutes. Last month, China’s Byd said it would soon release two electric vehicles capable of charging in...

Photo: Getty

The Electric: Why Trump’s Directives Will Likely Hurt EVs

By Steve LeVine · Mar 31, 2025 5:53am PDT

Photo: Getty

The Electric: Why Trump’s Directives Will Likely Hurt EVs

By Steve LeVine · Mar 31, 2025 5:53am PDT

In a pair of sweeping directives involving the auto industry the past two weeks, President Donald Trump did not attack electric vehicles, as he has in the past. But the moves nonetheless seem likely to hobble Western-made EVs. Already priced higher than most buyers are willing to pay, they likely will become far more expensive. In a pair of sweeping directives involving the auto industry the past two weeks, President Donald...

Asma Sharafi, U.S. CEO of VW's PowerCo.

Exclusive From The Electric: An Interview With the New U.S. CEO of VW’s PowerCo

By Steve LeVine · Mar 27, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

For 15 years, QuantumScape has struggled to develop a next-generation lithium-metal battery that would substantially increase the driving range of electric vehicles. Now its top investor—Volkswagen—has brought in its own lithium-metal expert to help push the battery into commercial use by the end of the decade. For 15 years, QuantumScape has struggled to develop a next-generation lithium-metal battery that...

In 2023, China's JAC Group released the Yiwei, powered by a sodium-ion battery. Photo: Courtesy JAC

The Electric: Sodium Ion Batteries Only Seem Cheaper Than Traditional Lithium Ion

By Steve LeVine · Mar 24, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

In a drive to cut costs and their reliance on China’s supply chain, Western startups have been developing batteries using cheap and abundant sodium in place of lithium, today’s standard. But an extended plunge in the price of the fastest-growing type of lithium-ion battery has flipped the script, making it far cheaper to snub sodium for now. In a drive to cut costs and their reliance on China’s supply chain, Western startups have been...

Photo by Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: Tesla Plans to Soon Introduce Long-Awaited Battery Innovation in Cybertrucks

By Steve LeVine · Mar 20, 2025 5:33am PDT

In one of the most closely watched projects in the global battery industry, Tesla plans this year to introduce an innovation in its Cybertruck batteries that could sharply decrease battery manufacturing costs, a senior executive said Wednesday.Bonne Eggleston, senior director of the battery program, said Tesla would introduce dry cathodes later... In one of the most closely watched projects in the global battery industry, Tesla plans this year...

The Xiaomi SU7 sedan. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty

The Electric: Xiaomi's Latest EV Will Make It Harder for Tesla To Grow This Year

By Steve LeVine · Mar 17, 2025 4:30am PDT

The Xiaomi SU7 sedan. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty

The Electric: Xiaomi's Latest EV Will Make It Harder for Tesla To Grow This Year

By Steve LeVine · Mar 17, 2025 4:30am PDT

Over the past year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has shown up two formidable U.S. brands: First, it released an electric car, something that Apple failed to do, despite spending an estimated $10 billion and a decade trying. Over the past year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has shown up two formidable U.S. brands:...

Photo via Harbinger Motors

The Electric: EV Truck Startup Harbinger Says Some Rivals Took Money and ‘Lit It on Fire’

By Steve LeVine · Mar 13, 2025 4:30am PDT

Perhaps no segment of the nascent electric vehicle industry has had a sorrier few years than commercial trucking. Since 2022, at least six electric van and truck startups have filed for bankruptcy, and a seventh seems to be just hanging on.In January, though, electric truck startup Harbinger Motors raised a $100 million Series B round, which it... Perhaps no segment of the nascent electric vehicle industry has had a sorrier few years than...

Gotion's cylindrical EV batteries. Photo: Getty

The Electric: The Chinese Companies That Want to Show Americans How to Make First-Rate EV Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Mar 10, 2025 4:30am PDT

Late next year, Massachusetts-based electrode developer 6K plans to deliver iron-based cathodes to a surprising customer—Chinese battery maker Gotion, which will turn the dark powder into batteries at an Illinois factory carved out of a former Kmart. Late next year, Massachusetts-based electrode developer 6K plans to deliver iron-based cathodes...

Musk at Tesla's Berlin gigafactory. Photo: Christian Marquardt. Pool/Getty

The Electric: Why Elon Musk Should Step Down at Tesla

By Steve LeVine · Mar 6, 2025 4:30am PST · 3 comments

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised to release a new affordable electric vehicle by the end of June, less than four months from now. Investors hope the car will provide a spark for the company, which otherwise looks likely to mark a second consecutive year of declining sales. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised to release a new affordable electric vehicle by the end of June,...

Ionic Minerals will use halloysite mined in these hills in Utah to make silicon anodes. Photo: Courtesy Ionic.

The Electric: Four New EV Battery Startups That Are Ignoring the Gloom Around Them

By Steve LeVine · Mar 3, 2025 4:30am PST

Ionic Minerals will use halloysite mined in these hills in Utah to make silicon anodes. Photo: Courtesy Ionic.

The Electric: Four New EV Battery Startups That Are Ignoring the Gloom Around Them

By Steve LeVine · Mar 3, 2025 4:30am PST

A bloodbath is happening in the electric vehicle battery industry: Most of the next-generation Western startups that gained favor in 2020 and 2021 are struggling to survive, and some have either filed for bankruptcy or shut down. But a new wave of battery startups, unfazed by the rubble around them, has raised millions of dollars from venture... A bloodbath is happening in the electric vehicle battery industry: Most of the next-generation...