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I think that's a little hyperbolic, but the Japanese are way behind. There was a decent analysis (as always) in the Economist recently.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/04/16/how-japan-is-losin...

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No one needs to bother with that race. It is just a ploy by China to gain marketshare in the car industry. It won't work because it ultimately creates a massive new resource dependency. One that just happens to shift everyone's supply chain to China or Chinese controlled companies. I believe Western companies will eventually walk away from pursuing battery cars, at least in the sense of them being the only solution. it just has too many obvious problem.

What are these obvious problems?

Expensive, limited range, slow recharge times, huge dependency on a battery supply chain, etc. Right now, people are obsessed about them but I think this is just temporary phenomenon. Once people realize that there are cheaper forms of green transportation that avoid those above issues, the obsession with battery EVs will end.

Battery EVs probably won't go away, there would be too much backlash against politicians saying "Actually, let's not bother," even if/when the US finally understands and embraces sane intra- and inter-urban transportation modes.

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