“My name is Joe Biden and I’m a car guy,” said US President Joe Biden in his opening remarks 18 May at Ford’s plant in Dearborn, Michigan, on the electrified future of the auto industry. 

President Biden plans to push a $174 billion electric vehicle stimulus bill through Congress, covering all facets of the supply chain - manufacturing, charging, and essential infrastructure both on- and off-road. 

“We’re at a great inflection point in American history. How we handle the next 4-10 years is going to determine where we’re going to be 30, 40, 50 years from now. It’s one of those moments in American history,” he says. 

Conquering China’s lead in EVs will be the challenge of this American generation, Kallanish understands from the president's speech.

“Right now, China is leading in this race. Make no bones about it; it’s a fact,” he says. “Right now, 80% of the manufacturing capacity of those batteries is done in China...That allows them to corner the market on the supplies and raw materials for those batteries.”

Developing an American EV culture will begin with developing an alternative - though not entirely independent - supply chain for critical power materials, President Biden says. 

“And here’s the deal: It’s not that China’s battery technology is that much more innovative than anyone else’s. Remember, our national labs in the United States, our universities, our automakers led in the development of this technology,” he says. “But today, China has a bigger manufacturing scale than all other countries.  And they’re using that scale to make these batteries not just in China, but they’re making them in Germany and in Mexico.  And they’re now exporting those electric vehicles around the world, with sights on the American market.”