The 2024 general election is mercifully over. Many in the advanced battery, renewable energy and electric vehicle industries are apprehensive about the result to say the least. While some apprehension is warranted, it is important to keep a few of things in mind.
First is that advanced batteries and electric vehicles are not the product of government policy. They are the product of fundamental changes in energy and automotive technologies that will continue regardless of political leadership. Government policy cannot affect the existence of this change (though it can affect its pace). Politics will not prevent the adoption of a superior technology by U.S. businesses and consumers. As long as we in industry keep our eye on the ball, no change in government policy will cripple our industry. And the ball is: better, cheaper, faster.
Second, there is a difference between politics and policy. Modern EV’s, which are still a new and relatively expensive technology, make a great punching bag for a political coalition marketing itself to hard-pressed blue-collar workers. My guess is that Henry Ford took political heat in the early 20th Century from politicians representing the vast majority of U.S. voters, who could not yet afford his products. But Henry Ford got his costs down and ended up doing just fine.
Third, a new approach to some of the challenges of the advanced battery industry in the United States might prove refreshing, and perhaps even beneficial. Everyone who runs a business appreciates the prime importance of efficiency. A new focus on efficiency could be beneficial to all good businesses in our industry.
Focusing on the fundamental needs of business in the battery industry could be even more beneficial. As I have long observed, every business has two problems: a balance sheet problem and an income statement problem. Over the last four years the federal government has provided necessary and invaluable assistance to many of our members in solving their balance sheet problem. If the next Administration chooses to focus more on the income statement problem, our industry could benefit as well.
Finally, China. I have written previously in this blog that we need a new approach to China. What that approach needs to be and what issues that approach needs to cover go well beyond batteries. While I will not weigh in on the wisdom of across the board tariffs on everything made in China (and everywhere else), it strikes me that a deal needs to be cut with the Chinese. Because of the peculiarities of U.S. politics, it needed to be Nixon who went to China. McGovern could never have done it. So let’s see what happens in 2025.
I do not wish to discount the apprehension in our industry or to be overly Pollyannaish. The advanced battery industry received unprecedented moral and financial support over the last four years, which it badly needed. It may be that we will not have that level of support over the next two to four years. But the future is far from bleak. We have a strong technology wind at our back. The best days of the advanced battery, EV and renewable energy industries lay before us, not behind. Let’s just keep charging ahead.