Candid Chinese EV Conversation With Kim Java & Rich Benoit

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I recently had a candid conversation about Chinese EVs and their implications with my friends Kim Java and Rich Benoit of Rich Rebuilds while we were all in Munich for the XPENG L03 launch.

Don’t let some of the YouTube antics for entertainment value fool you. These are very smart people with unique perspectives. They have seen a lot of what is happening behind the scenes and under the hood with EVs globally. Particularly with Tesla.

While we may not agree 100% on everything, I think we all came away feeling like we gained a deeper understanding than we had before. And we all wished we could have conversations like this more often. Next time, I will be sure to get my picture taken for the superhero pose thumbnail.

For progress to happen, we need more real, honest conversations. Those conversations might not be comfortable all the time. But we can’t let politicians define the debate, based on what will do the most to boost their poll numbers or to please their donors. That especially applies to global clean technology, which can benefit people but also disrupts established power structures. It is even more applicable to the Chinese EVs that are poised to disrupt legacy auto and fossil fuel interests.

I hope to have more conversations like this in the future, and I hope you find it as interesting as I did.