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Earlier this year, China crossed a major milestone when BYD, an electric car company based in its Shaanxi province, surpassed Tesla in total sales. What’s more, most experts believe the country is only at the beginning of its EV dominance. In a recent Washington Post article titled “How China pulled ahead to become the world leader in electric vehicles,” journalist Christian Shepherd explained how the country’s centralized, top-down government prioritized every level of the supply chain, from the building materials to the manufacturing to the charging stations. 

 

In a recent interview, we discussed what decisions the country made over a decade ago to incentivize EV production, to the point where it can sell cars at nearly half the price of its non-Chinese competitors. We also explored what the US would have to do if it wants to catch up.