Ford CEO warns of China's dominance in the production of electric cars

Ford Motor Company CEO Bill Ford Jr. said the United States is "not quite ready yet" to compete with China in the production of electric vehicles, according to Bloomberg.

He added, on Sunday, that "his company is trying to prepare with all its energy to keep pace with the matter."

Ford said in an interview with "CNN" that China has developed very quickly, and has developed electric car technologies on a large scale, and now they are exporting, so we have to be prepared.

According to Bloomberg, China is preparing to become the world's second largest exporter of cars, which could reshape the global auto industry, so that China dominates its trading partners and competitors.

Overseas shipments of cars made in China have tripled since 2020, reaching more than 2.5 million last year, posing a challenge for traditional car exporters around the world such as Germany, according to the agency.

And Ford announced this year that it would invest $ 3.5 billion in an electric car battery factory in Michigan in the United States, which sparked political controversy.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke about Chinese competition in an interview with "Bloomberg" on Sunday, saying that the United States should take steps to reduce China's advantage in electric car batteries, explaining that building refining capacity for major materials in the United States "can be addressed." .

The New York Times reported in a report on May 17 that China is the only country in the world that can manufacture an integrated electric car battery with high efficiency and a lower cost.

The newspaper pointed out that it is impossible for any other country to rely on itself in the battery supply chain without entering into a partnership with Beijing.

The manufacture of batteries for electric cars, according to the newspaper, is one of the most important races of our time, as countries that can manufacture batteries for electric cars will reap many economic and geopolitical advantages.

It pointed out that despite Western investments in the billions, China is progressing so much, in mining rare metals, training engineers, and building huge factories, that it may take decades for the rest of the world to catch up.

According to the newspaper, even by 2030, China will produce more than twice the number of batteries produced by all countries in the world combined, according to estimates by the consulting group, Benchmark Minerals.

The New York Times reported that China controls every step of the production of lithium-ion batteries, from getting raw materials out of the ground to manufacturing cars.

According to the newspaper, electric cars use about six times more rare earths than conventional cars because of the battery, and China has to decide who gets the minerals first and at what price.

It stated that although China has few underground deposits for basic components, it has followed a long-term strategy to find its way to cheap and steady supplies, through the acquisition by Chinese companies, relying on state aid, of stakes in mining companies on five continents.