Hi there, Quartz members!
China’s finger is on the electric-car scale
In our QZ&A today, we talk to Levi Tillemann, author of The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future, former staffer at the US Department of Energy during the Obama administration, and now a consultant on emerging-energy technologies and policies. Tillemann discusses his changing opinion of China’s electric-car program, how government can play a key role in developing a new industry, and the ways in which electric cars fit into a transportation infrastructure of the future.
We also take a look at how China’s electric cars are more than just advanced forms of transportation. In a country where surveillance is everywhere and all the time, China’s newest electric vehicles are massive data-collecting platforms that turn over mountains of information to the government every day.
Stay tuned this week for more
We’ll be covering other angles of this sprawling, fast-moving story. Later this week, we’ll have:
- A history of China’s automotive ambitions
- A look at which electric car is actually the greenest
- How Chinese car makers have aped other manufacturers designs
- The rise of Chinese electric buses around the world
- And much more
Let’s keep learning. Send ideas, questions, comments, and whatever the opposite of laissez-fare is to members@qz.com.
Hope you have a rewarding day,
Sam Grobart
Quartz membership editor