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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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

One is an energy and material source. The other is neither and is simply storage.

Why would you compare them?

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Because batteries are a point of tension in the adoption of some electricity-centric techs. Electricity production can be done in many different ways already (unless you suddenly decide to 100x the demand for shit and giggles), but a lot of applications requires batteries, which makes them some sort of choke point for adoption. Making them better, more accessible, cheaper, more friendly on the environment ease that.

The comparison is also on one end of the world focusing on the dying down side of things, while the other end is (allegedly) looking forward.

That's why they're compared.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca -3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

That's nice. Now run a modern civilization of 10 billion (upcoming) with only electricity.

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 1 points 22 minutes ago (1 children)

Yeah? That's kinda the plan? Do you see a particular problem with a mostly renewable (to the scale of our species' lifetime) source of energy, that can be implemented in various way to accommodate different situations, locations, and use, while trying to make things more efficient?

Because I don't.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 minutes ago

Wow.