The Electric by Steve LeVine — The Information

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The Electric

By Steve LeVine

The Electric is a publication from Steve LeVine and The Information focused on crucial industries for the energy transition, including next-generation batteries, electric vehicles and autonomous driving. The newsletter is only for subscribers of The Information.

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Recent Editions

SES AI CEO Qichao Hu has pivoted from batterymaking to scientific discovery with a database he calls Molecular Universe. Photo: Courtesy SES AI.

The Electric: The U.S. Is Good at Finding New Molecules. But Can it Turn Them Into Products?

By Steve LeVine · Mar 16, 2026 4:30am PDT

In manufacturing, some factories use so few humans that operators can turn out the lights and save money on electricity. In the pharmaceutical industry, too, AI has discovered new drugs with almost no human involvement after the prompt. In manufacturing, some factories use so few humans that operators can turn out the lights and...

Beta Technologies' Alia CCX300. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: Trump Administration Favors Conventional Electric Planes Over Jetson-Age Aircraft

By Steve LeVine · Mar 12, 2026 4:30am PDT

For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that looked like insects, took off and landed vertically, and flew almost silently above traffic-choked city streets. For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that...

BYD founder Wang Chuanfu introduces ultra fast "flash charging" of electric vehicles last week in Shenzhen, China. Photo: VCG/Getty

The Electric: Its Sales Sliding, BYD Fights Back With a New Battery

By Steve LeVine · Mar 9, 2026 4:30am PDT

Last year, China’s BYD zoomed past Tesla to become the world’s leading seller of electric vehicles. Now both companies are in a serious slump: BYD’s year-on-year sales have dropped for six straight months, and Tesla has suffered two years of annual sales declines. Now other nimble EV players, mostly Chinese, are fighting for the global sales... Last year, China’s BYD zoomed past Tesla to become the world’s leading seller of electric...

Joby demonstrated its flying taxi in Dubai last week. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty

The Electric: The Iran War Creates Doubts About the Commercial Launch of Flying Taxis This Year

By Steve LeVine · Mar 5, 2026 4:30am PST

Joby demonstrated its flying taxi in Dubai last week. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty

The Electric: The Iran War Creates Doubts About the Commercial Launch of Flying Taxis This Year

By Steve LeVine · Mar 5, 2026 4:30am PST

Last week, Joby Aviation and Uber announced a new collaboration in Dubai: Later this year, people opening the Uber app would be able to choose between standard offerings such as UberX and a new option—flying to their destination by electric air taxi.Three days later, President Donald Trump ordered his attack on Iran, largely grounding civilian... Last week, Joby Aviation and Uber announced a new collaboration in Dubai: Later this year, people...

Firebird Metals plans to mine Western Australia's Oakover deposit. Photo: Courtesy Firebird.

The Electric: This Startup Says Winning in Critical Minerals Means Learning From the Chinese

By Steve LeVine · Mar 2, 2026 4:30am PST

Ford and General Motors are banking on a new manganese-based battery to leapfrog China in the EV battery race. The catch is that they won’t break China’s stranglehold on the global supply of the material that goes into the battery—high-purity manganese. Ford and General Motors are banking on a new manganese-based battery to leapfrog China in the EV...

Form Energy's Weirton, W.Va. facility. Photo: Courtesy Form

Exclusive From The Electric: A $1 Billion Payday From Google For Battery Startup Form Energy

By Steve LeVine · Feb 26, 2026 4:30am PST

Since it launched nine years ago, next-generation battery developer Form Energy has faced a single skeptical question: Do businesses really need a battery that lasts 100 hours or longer? Since it launched nine years ago, next-generation battery developer Form Energy has faced a...

At AM Batteries' factory in Billerica, Mass. Photo: Courtesy AM Batteries

Exclusive From The Electric: This Battery Executive's Advantage is That He Has Sold a Startup to Elon Musk

By Steve LeVine · Feb 23, 2026 4:30am PST

In early 2019, Tesla paid $218 million to acquire a small San Diego battery startup that it believed could transform the economics of carmaking. Last month, Elon Musk’s gamble appeared to pay off when Tesla announced it was using the startup’s money-saving technology in an updated battery that powers the Cybertruck. In early 2019, Tesla paid $218 million to acquire a small San Diego battery startup that it...

Ford's first stab at electric pickups, the Lightning, was a flop. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty

The Electric: Ford Doubles Down On Beating the Chinese in EVs

By Steve LeVine · Feb 19, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

Ford's first stab at electric pickups, the Lightning, was a flop. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty

The Electric: Ford Doubles Down On Beating the Chinese in EVs

By Steve LeVine · Feb 19, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

For months, Ford has backpedaled furiously from a massive gamble it made on electric vehicles, writing down $19.5 billion in costs and killing newly designed EVs it had paraded as proof of its tech cred. For months, Ford has backpedaled furiously from a massive gamble it made on electric vehicles,...

A driverless excavator at work near Austin, Texas. Photo: Courtesy Bedrock Robotics

The Electric: These Driverless Construction Vehicles Could Speed the Data Center Boom

By Steve LeVine · Feb 16, 2026 4:30am PST

Trey Taparauskas’ construction company is flooded with new business from a sizzling boom in the aerospace and data center industries in and around Austin, Texas. A stark shortage of skilled equipment operators, though, has made it hard to meet all the demand. Trey Taparauskas’ construction company is flooded with new business from a sizzling boom in the...

Ukraine's Vampire kamikaze drone. Photo: Jose Colon/Anadolu/Gett

Exclusive From The Electric: These U.S. Startups Are Developing Superbatteries for Long-Range Combat Drones

By Steve LeVine · Feb 12, 2026 4:30am PST

The Department of Energy is developing superbatteries that would substantially extend the range of combat drones such as those used by Ukraine. The greater range would allow the drones to conduct surveillance or drop munitions much further behind enemy lines than is currently possible. The Department of Energy is developing superbatteries that would substantially extend the range...

Construction has started at Lithium Americas' Thacker Pass lithium project. Photo: Courtesy Lithium Americas

The Electric: Lithium Makes a Comeback as Trump Moves to Challenge China

By Steve LeVine · Feb 9, 2026 4:30am PST

Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo in late 2022, the price of the metal plummeted as low as $8 last year, causing big losses for investors and forcing mines to close in the U.S., Australia and elsewhere. Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo...

China's ADA Space plans to launch 2,800 of these satellites into space to make up a data center constellation. Photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Getty

The Electric: This Chinese Startup Has Already Put a Data Center In Space

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

China's ADA Space plans to launch 2,800 of these satellites into space to make up a data center constellation. Photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Getty

The Electric: This Chinese Startup Has Already Put a Data Center In Space

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he is in the vanguard of the next big thing—the establishment of AI data centers in space. Sorry, Elon, a Chinese startup got there first. With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he...

A home battery in Houston, which has been hit hard by power outages in recent years. Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty

The Electric: Amid the Flurries, Home Battery Installers Are Going After Grid and Data Center Demand

By Steve LeVine · Feb 2, 2026 4:30am PST

Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid across the Northeastern U.S. states and inland as far as Virginia, leaving utilities to ask customers to curtail their use of power and causing thousands of homes to go dark. Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a full pivot away from electric vehicles. Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: Musk Talks Up Optimus, But Tesla's 2025 Was Saved By Plain Old Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Jan 29, 2026 4:38am PST · 1 comment

Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus robot. As for revenue today, one of the company’s few bright spots is batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus...

U.S. battery startups are finding eager manufacturing capacity in China. Photo: Lin Xin/VCG/Getty

The Electric: Idle Chinese Plants Are Inviting Business With U.S. Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Jan 26, 2026 4:30am PST

A free-for-all of factory expansion among China’s battery manufacturers has left more than 40% of the country’s battery plants idle. That has presented a prime opportunity for a nascent wave of Western startups to capitalize on the Chinese battery makers’ misery. A free-for-all of factory expansion among China’s battery manufacturers has left more than 40% of...

Millions of these metals-rich nodules are strewn across the seafloor three miles below the surface of the Pacific. Photo: Carolyn Cole / L.A. Times/Getty

The Electric: Trump Expedites Deep Sea Mining of Critical Minerals

By Steve LeVine · Jan 22, 2026 4:30am PST

Millions of these metals-rich nodules are strewn across the seafloor three miles below the surface of the Pacific. Photo: Carolyn Cole / L.A. Times/Getty

The Electric: Trump Expedites Deep Sea Mining of Critical Minerals

By Steve LeVine · Jan 22, 2026 4:30am PST

Startup Western mining companies got key U.S. support Wednesday in their yearslong effort to extract copper, cobalt and other key metals from the deep Pacific seabed, a move intended to accelerate non-Chinese supplies for tech and defense companies. Startup Western mining companies got key U.S. support Wednesday in their yearslong effort to...

Northern Graphite's mine in Lac-des-Iles, Quebec. Photo: Sebastien St-Jean/AFP/Getty

The Electric: A Big Deal in Saudi Arabia Sent This Graphite Miner’s Shares Soaring

By Steve LeVine · Jan 19, 2026 4:30am PST

For more than two decades, Northern Graphite has plodded along as a middling if sometimes plucky Canadian mining company. Then last week, Northern said its revenue would jump eightfold to $250 million in the next few years as it shifts from merely mining graphite to processing it into the final material used to make battery anodes. The news... For more than two decades, Northern Graphite has plodded along as a middling if sometimes plucky...

CATL battery factory in Arnstadt, Germany. Photo: Nicolo Lanfranchi/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: China’s Moves Are Likely to Make Its Big Battery Makers Even Bigger

By Steve LeVine · Jan 15, 2026 4:30am PST

Days before China this week announced record exports, it moved to temper global anger over its flood of cheap products going overseas: It killed tax subsidies on exports of batteries and solar panels. Days before China this week announced record exports, it moved to temper global anger over its...

StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf. Photo: Courtesy StoreDot

The Electric: This Battery Startup’s New Approach to Survival—Go Public

By Steve LeVine · Jan 12, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli battery startup, on its feet until he could land some big expected contracts. Nothing worked. Now the CEO has decided on a different route to staying afloat: listing the company on the Nasdaq. For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli...

The Petropiar oil refinery in Venezuela's Anzoategui State, in which Chevron owns a 30% share. Photo: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: In Venezuela, Trump Doubles Down on a Bet Scorning the Emerging Electric Economy

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2026 4:30am PST

The Petropiar oil refinery in Venezuela's Anzoategui State, in which Chevron owns a 30% share. Photo: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: In Venezuela, Trump Doubles Down on a Bet Scorning the Emerging Electric Economy

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2026 4:30am PST

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely.” For starters, the South American nation will hand over more than $2 billion in crude oil to the U.S., about 15% of its annual production, apparently in exchange for a friendlier attitude from President Donald Trump. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “...