Sometimes one hears, from the man in the street, "what luck", "what a stroke", or, perhaps, a little more colorful "than c ...". We are so used to these phrases, sometimes used only to enhance the event, fortuitous or not, that we do not stop besides reflecting.
Today, reading a nice article on "Le monde diplomatique", signed Guillaume Snape, I was impressed by the title and I found myself reflecting on the meaning of "stroke of luck" in the face of a much more probable blow ... "medium / long-term strategic planning". In short, the article / inquiry concerns the present and above all the future of the electric car in the world and clearly highlights the direction taken in the field of electric cars and the problems that automobile manufacturers will face. from here to the next 10 / 20 years.
Although the electric car (it seems) is less polluting than the car with petrol or diesel (and I say it seems to be right, because the production of electric batteries, magnets and electronic components and their recycling / disposal erroneously are never calculated) , there are some productive factors that have not been adequately considered and that risk becoming the umpteenth pretext of economic war between China and the rest of the world (read the West!).
The main point, but not the only one, lies in the fact that most of the raw materials used for the construction of high-tech components of electric cars are in the hands or under the more or less direct control of China which produces them. sells to those who need it by applying a surcharge of around 20% if the buyer does not use them for production activities located within the borders of the Chinese state. This has meant that some foreign companies have rushed to delocalize production activities on the Chinese territory (with Chinese earnings in terms of employment) and many others are thinking about it.
But how and why was this impulse towards electric cars? What is strategic planning with the production of electronic components and batteries? And finally, why does China lead the sector?
According to the journalist of Le Monde Diplomatique everything is connected. The production of greenhouse gases, global warming, the need to reduce air pollution, the outlawing of internal combustion engines between now and ten to fifteen years, are the factors that, like on a chessboard, allow the United States and China (mainly but not exclusively) to play the most dangerous chess game in recent industrial history. Yes, because if we eliminate the possibility that this is a fortuitous case, as mentioned in the original article title: "Voiture électrique, une aubaine pour la Chine" (ie: Electric car, an unexpected stroke of luck for China), then we must think that it is strategic planning in the medium / long term, precise planning and successful, given the results.
But let's see quickly the essential lines of this possible planning. Starting from the end, that is, from the goal that China has set itself, which we suppose to be "getting the first place in the production of electric cars", we see that it has carried forward several lines of action in parallel:
- the acquisition of Western technologies (through subsidies to foreign companies that set up production lines in China, but with the formula of state-owned partnerships, which are excellent for acquiring secrets and patents in a short time);
- the acquisition of the supremacy in the extraction and control of rare raw materials (rare metals in particular), obtained by means of the high productivity of Chinese mines, to the detriment of the safety and health of workers;
- maximization of the production of components in the national territory, also obtained through subsidies relating to the prices of raw materials for producers who install factories in China;
- aggressive information campaign against competitors, encouraged to push the accelerator from the breezy closure of the Chinese market to internal combustion cars (petrol and diesel) presumably within 2030 / 2040;
- huge investments in Africa (also) to guarantee the direct control of part of the precious raw materials.
Now, on closer inspection, after having even superficially read the previous ten lines, can anyone still claim that it was a stroke of luck? I do not believe it.
It is clear that there is a strategy behind it, of which the lines I refer to are nothing but the tip of the iceberg.
And what will we do? Do we relocate and end up in the hands of China or are we where we are and pay? We could and should ask, if we had an automobile industry ...
Or we could ask our researchers, to the best minds of the country to find alternatives (so maybe they do not leave!).
Man is able to recreate and improve everything he needs if pushed by adequate stimulation, then why not offer a prize to the researcher or laboratory that finds a material that can be synthesized in the laboratory starting from the most common and economic elements that it can take the place of those materials that are under the control of China?
Too complicated? Sometimes the solution to a problem is to be found on roads other than those already traveled.
To learn more:
- https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2018/08/PITRON/58979
- https://www.lifegate.it/persone/stile-di-vita/cina-auto-elettrica-per-legge
(photo: web)
