Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company, has taken six trips to China to study their automotive industry. “It’s the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen”, he said after returning from his latest trip. “They have far superior in-vehicle technology,” the Ford CEO said. “You get in, you don’t have to pair your phone. Automatically, your whole digital life is mirrored in the car. You have an AI companion that you can talk to … All the automatic payment is already there. You can buy movie tickets. It has facial recognition so it knows who’s in which seat and which media you like.” “[T]heir cost, their quality of their vehicles is far superior to what I see in the West,” Farley continued. “We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs. And if we lose this we do not have a future at Ford.”

Tu Le, the founder of Sino Auto Insights in Detroit, was more concise; “They do things really well that we need to learn.” He was even more succinct. “The pupil is now the teacher.”

In 2024, more than half (52%) of the nearly 32 million cars sold in China were either fully battery electric or plug-in hybrid electric. This extraordinary shift, from 1.2 million EVs in 2020 to 16 million in 2024, is the result of a deliberate industrial strategy that links economic growth, air quality improvement, and energy security. This trend is accelerating. With half the cars sold today being electric, it is forecast that in the next 3 to 5 years, 80% of the cars sold in China will be electric.

Bill Russo, CEO of Automobility, a Shanghai-based strategy firm, said, “Batteries, rare earth magnets, AI-driven autonomy, and software-defined mobility — these are the engines of future economic and geopolitical power. Without a thriving EV industry at home, America risks forfeiting its leadership in the foundational technologies of the next industrial age.”

Ford gets it. CEO Jim Farley just announced a $5 billion investment in a new line of electric vehicles, calling it “a Model-T moment.” GM gets it. Driven by a broad portfolio of 13 electric vehicles, their EV sales are exploding. GM has stated that it aims to fully transition its new light-duty vehicle lineup to all-electric powertrains by 2035.

In 2024, 10 million cars were made in the USA. China, at 31 million, made more than three times as many. China, the EU, and the UK are all rapidly moving to plug-in cars. Combined, they account for almost half of the worldwide automobile market. If you make old-technology cars that at least half of the world doesn’t want, you can’t compete globally; you will wither and die.

LG Energy North America President Bob Lee equated this tipping point to the transition from sailing ships to steam-powered vessels in the late 1800s. “The writing is on the wall,” Lee said. “Nobody is investing in better sails.” The message is clear, if you’re not all-in on EVs, you’re toast.” By eliminating a lot of the pro-EV policies enacted by his predecessor, President Trump risks imploding a multi-trillion dollar sector of the U.S. economy.

The current administration in Washington just doesn’t get it, it is stuck in the 1980s. They are doubling down on gas guzzlers; eliminating incentives to purchase or lease EVs (even for those made in the US), cutting funding for charging stations, and reducing fuel economy standards. In short, they are making American cars less efficient and more expensive. According to a report released by E2, a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals, 29 EV manufacturing projects have already been canceled or downsized, totaling over $13 billion in lost investments and costing over 14,000 jobs.

The question is, will the American consumer get it? Will they continue buying relics of a past age, polluting our air, hobbling our domestic industry, and virtually guaranteeing China’s dominance? It is clear that the future of the automobile is electric and, eventually, most Americans will drive one. Whether it is made in America or China will depend on how quickly we adopt the future. “Trump’s policies are setting the auto industry up to be an island of backwardness” says Susan Helper, an economist at Case Western Reserve University.

Tom Meara is a Jamestown resident.