JB Straubel, Tesla co-founder and its former chief technology officer, recently gave an interview, where he warned that some auto manufacturers may have not thought through when they announced that they were going to switch to 100% EV by a certain date.
Indeed, if you look at how a car is made, whether EV or gasoline ones, no car companies today can make every component. Even Tesla, the most highly integrated car company in the world, relies on other suppliers. Reflecting on what might happen down the road to those EV makers, Straubel said:
“It’s not going to be just a battery shortage, it is going to ripple through the whole supply chain. It will be maybe nickel shortages, cathode shortage, maybe on another day it will separator shortage.“
Indeed the EV supply chain, like many other supply chains, is long and complicated. It is also incredibly detailed, down to every single input no matter how small it is, whether it is a material like nickel, or a small component like a plastic button. Everything has to be ready in place to make a finished car.
Think about it, would you sell a new car with a missing cup-holder even though the car will run just as well?
Watch the video here:
Lastly, I would like to give a shoutout to JB’s current venture on material recycling: Redwood Materials. It is just so crucial that we recycle and reuse as much as we can. Let’s collectively stop generating more waste and dump it into the environment. Our mother earth is finite, and only take that much. Plus, the waste we generate will eventually come back to haunt and hurt us. So, for ourselves, for the environment, let’s all do our part.