this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Trump Is Obsessed With Oil. But Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 2 days ago by UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
196 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.

Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).

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[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Oil companies will probably go the way of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, going broke. They’re continuing to invest heavily in oil infrastructure at a time when the market is shifting and even now there is a flattening of demand for oil products where EVs are becoming prevalent. The trend will start to hit profitability and they will most likely double down.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Oil companies are not that dimwitted.
They're already investing in electric products and there's more to oil than just car fuel.
They're just not in a hurry but don't think BP can't easily put electric chargers in all their gas stations in a pinch if they want to.

Not enough demand yet (nor real pressure, a.k.a. governments or other entities massively enlarging grid offers), so they're just coasting.

[–] RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

go the way of the Encyclopaedia Britannica,

Still quoted by facists who pretend it's a better source than Wikipedia?