Supply-Chain Challenge 2.0: Complex Auto Industry Transitions To Electric

Supply-Chain Challenge 2.0: Complex Auto Industry Transitions To Electric

Electric batteries like those used in the Telsa and other electric vehicles were the ... [+] third-fastest-growing U. S. import in September. The third-fastest growing major U. S. import in the most recent month was batteries like those used in electric vehicles, 75% of which came from China, South Korea and Japan. Sure, the value of oil and gasoline grew faster among the nation's top 50 exports — they have been there previously. But the battery statistic, coming on the heels of the global climate change COP-26 conference in Scotland, recent expansion announcements by legacy automakers, shocking valuations given to nascent electric-vehicle companies, and aggressive incentives by Midwestern states got me to thinking about how the response to global warming will affect global trade. Here's how: It will disrupt and transform the North American automotive industry, the largest, most complex and tightly integrated cross-border supply chain in the world. Companies making the wrong things will lose ground to those making the right things. Manufacturing jobs held by some people will go away. Manufacturing and software jobs will open up for others, possibly in the same locations, possibly in neighboring states, possibly in other countries. Yes, this will be a global