China is upping its subsidy per EV to $15,000 and investing massively in electric car infrastructure. Similar to what its done in solar energy, the subsidies for manufacturing are accompanied by subsidies in demand creating discounts for consumers.
They play the chicken and egg game better than the US because they can have ONE policy and stick to it. In the US, every state is practically on its own for electrical vehicle subsidies and same in renewables. So what I expect is that China will again lead the way in EV infrastructure build out and adoption and as usual, manufacturing of most of what centers around the electric vehicle will move there.
The laws of gravity are simple…business goes where its supported. The Electric Vehicle industry needs embryonic support levels to gather speed, and as it gathers speed and natural investments in technology occur, the cost of producing an electric vehicle and its supporting lifetime costs will go down, and then subsidies can be reduced.
The Chinese have learned to do what the Germans did in the early 1980’s with renewable energy and we can see Germany is far ahead of the USA in terms of renewable energy production facilities, despite its small size. A vast amount of jobs in eastern Germany are in renewables, thanks to an advanced investment policy in manufacturing and accompanying subsidies in demand creation.
One day the US will get it…hope its not too late.