STREETS AHEAD

CHINA IS IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT WHEN IT NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS FOR THE U.S. COMES TO EV TECHNOLOGY-WHICH POSES HUGE

- Rebecca A. Fannin

THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE REVOLUTION IS OFTEN framed as a climate imperative—a way to cut carbon emissions and slow global warming. But the race to electrify automotive fleets is not just about the transportation sector: EVs are the gateway to a new military-industrial era. And China is already winning.

While the U.S. dithers over charging stations and trade restrictions, China has built a vertically integrated EV empire—dominating production, supply chains and the underlying technologies that will define the next century. This isn’t just about cars. It’s about batteries that power everything from smartphones to drones to autonomous weapons. It means building the kind of deep R&D pipelines that can be redirected toward military technologies. It means dominance in AI navigation, robotics and smart cities. It’s about who will control the infrastructure of the future—and who could win future wars.

Today's Chinese EVs are computers on wheels, equipped for the digital age with infotainment systems and touchscreens and high-tech features like rotating passenger seats and a weird gimmick that lets cars “dance” or shake to music. Some models even sport a roof-mounted drone that motorists can launch off the car to record video by remote control.

If America fails to lead (or even compete) in the EV space, it won't just miss its climate targets—it will forfeit its industrial base, hollow out its manufacturing heartland and turn Detroit, once the symbol of American ingenuity, into a legacy domestic supplier of gasoline-powered pickups. In short, the United States stands to lose the technological edge that made it a superpower while the rest of the world zooms past.

The EV race is not just a matter of mobility. It’s about sovereignty.