China and the electric vehicle battery supply chain, with Henry Sanderson

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy speak with Henry Sanderson, a former AP and Bloomberg reporter who was based in China for many years, about his book Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green — a book that reminds us of the very ugly fact that the metals that are needed to make electric vehicle batteries need to be dug out of the earth, and processed in ways that are anything but environmentally friendly. Henry talks about China's outsize role in lithium, cobalt, and nickel processing, as well as some promising chemistries that allow for EV batteries without some of the problematic metals.2:49 – China’s role in the EV battery supply chain9:36 – Global Chinese investments in lithium mines14:04 – Is cobalt a necessary evil?18:56 – Can NGO pressure induce better corporate behavior in EV battery supply chains?21:28 – How Indonesia used its nickel resources to attract Chinese FDI26:17 – China’s efforts to innovate around scarce metals32:08 – China’s metal processing industry: State- or market-driven?36:06 – Lessons from Europe’s battery industry40:42 – Electrification of two-wheeled vehiclesA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: London Review of BooksHenry: The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen CheungKaiser: Tracking the People’s Daily newsletter by Manoj KewalramaniSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.