nytimes.com
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Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.

Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).

  • Atomic@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    154·
    1 day ago

    It is a lot more complex than “Europe is actually following America more than China in this”.

    Europe have very limited lithium deposits compared to China. Europe is trying to be as self sustaining as possible, especially now that the US have shown themselves to be a highly unreliable partner.

    So exchanging one dependency for another is a poor lateral move at best.

    You can’t just start digging up the entire ground and make car batteries out of all lithium you find.

    European universities all over are researching alternative battery technology that doesn’t rely as much on lithium.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
      221·
      1 day ago

      None of that is true. There is lithium everywhere, Germany just found 45 million tonnes of it. People have been digging up the entire ground for oil for 200 years.

      You can research all you want, but the periodic table is not changing, and Chinese R&D is decades ahead of the West.

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        21·
        13 hours ago

        Yeah, they just found it late last year. And still working out how they should bring it up. They’ve made estimates on the amount, i’m not qualified to verify their estimates.

        If they can actually bring it up we have security in the materials required to make the research worth it.

        But no, we have not dug up all of the ground to get oil. Oil is a lot more liquid than lithium ore. We can pump up the oil without having to excavate the entire surrounding area.

        I’m not saying that to defend oil. But the funny part about it is that if they had dug up all of the ground to get it, they would have found their lithium deposits sooner. Because they found it in an oil-field.

        You can research all you want, but the periodic table is not changing, and Chinese R&D is decades ahead of the West.

        What does that even mean? Do you have any idea how long ago it was since we found the last naturally occurring element? Should we have just stoped all research I the early 1900’s because “the periodic table is not changing”. Dumbest shit I’ve heard all years. And yes, I did hear about Trumps email to Norway. You still win.

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      92·
      1 day ago

      Yeah, well, there’s no Oil in Europe either, so ICE cars are even worse for a self-sustaining Europe (at least Lithum is only consumed once for an EV car, whilst Oil is consumed all the time for ICE cars)

      If Europe can constantly source Oil from abroad to keep ICE cars going, I’m sure it can also source (a far lower quantity of) Lithium from abroad to make cars that can then run on electric power produced right here in Europe.

      Your entire “argument” is one big cherry picked excuse.

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        13 hours ago

        I’m not arguing for oil. Yet the current production costs for lithium batteries, compared to their lifecycle, rivals that of combustion propulsion. That doesn’t mean we should stop researching and finding better methods. But it’s far from as “environmentally” friendly as you think it is.

        Oh, and Europe have oil. Plenty of it. Where would you like start? The coast outside Norway? The vast natural gas reserves in western Russia? The ocean outside of Scotland, maybe it just happenes to be a shit ton of oil under Greenland which is 100% unrelated to why Trump wants to own it.

        I’m still not arguing for or against oil. I’m saying Europe isn’t following the US, and Europe isn’t interested in following China either. Europe is interested in carving out sustainability for themselves without US or China.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        1 day ago

        Yeah, well, there’s no Oil in Europe either,

        C’mon. I’m a dumb American, but even I know without looking it up about Norway’s vast petroleum production as well as the North Sea petroleum platforms off the coast of Scotland.