Without a Massive Domestic Reconfiguration, the US Electric Vehicle Project Will Fail

The US electric vehicle project will fail without a massive domestic reconfiguration. The current industrial infrastructure of the United States is not optimized for manufacturing electric vehicles. Most of the necessary technologies and knowledge fields are not being developed at the scale needed in the US. For example, skills in electric chemistry and power sources are lacking. While basic science is important, knowledge that is crucial for industrial production often arises on the factory floor. Currently, there are few US enterprises that apply this knowledge. Although some Asian enterprises are relocating to the US, it is uncertain whether the post-secondary education system in the US is producing the necessary knowledge for the factories. Attempting to create firewalls between Asian countries is challenging due to their heavy integration. Relying on offshore expertise is a result of the historical dynamics of US capitalism and it will not be easy to reconfigure this system and bring everything back to the US. Therefore, a significant domestic reconfiguration is essential for the success of the US electric vehicle project.