Episodes
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Max picks the brain of White House and Tesla alum Rohan Patel, who pivoted from advising Obama on climate policy to working at the world's leading EV player for eight years making pivotal business and policy decisions.
With the state of the Inflation Reduction Act in question given a new administration and Republican control of Congress, what does Rohan think of the US' current place in the race to transition to green energy and EVs against China—even if not everyone's on board?
Follow Rohan on X
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Max is joined by Mike Murphy as well as Executive Editor of Automotive News, Jamie Butters, to talk EVs in the wake of a big Election night for Republicans across the board. Trump and Elon's alliance looms large, as do headwinds for EVs in the US amidst the march of ever more available and cheaper vehicles. It's not all doom and gloom, we promise!
Listen to The Daily Drive Podcast
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Max speaks to John Heilemann, journalist with Puck News and analyst with NBC to discuss how the candidates are treating (or not treating) EVs in the final sprint to election day, and WTF is going on with Elon Musk and Trump.
Listen to John's Podcast at Puck
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There’s no question when it comes to selling EVs in the US, or making a profit on them, Tesla is king. But between an erratic CEO, public scrutiny over delay after delay on self driving promises, and signs of flagging demand in key markets like California, there’s some reason to have doubts. Nonetheless, their recent Q3 results exceeded expectations and saw an ambitious growth forecast. To break it down, I needed someone who has a handle on not just Tesla as a stock, but the auto industry at large in this strange but precipitous moment.
On this episode, Max speaks with Bloomberg’s Corey Cantor, who works for their NEF division specifically covering electric vehicles and the auto market. Let’s talk Tesla, emerging competition from Hyundai Motor Group and General Motors, and the long-term future of the EV market in the US amidst booming hybrid sales.
Learn More About The American EV Jobs Alliance
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Max speaks with Secretary of the DOT, former South Bend Mayor, and 2020 Demoratic primary candidate Pete Buttigieg to talk EVs, jobs in the USA, and improving infrastructure with NEVI. Spoiler: his office doesn’t think every American needs to get an EV tomorrow, but he wants to set the US up for success in the global stage so that we don't fall behind.
Learn More About The American EV Jobs Alliance: https://evpolitics.org
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EVs and Chinas have become intertwined, mostly because China has developed an unassailable lead in making the most important, and most expensive component of any electric car. They aren’t just a political target just of Donald Trump, who led the charge on an all-out trade war in his first term in office. The current Biden administration is imposing a 25% tarriff on any vehicle with a Chinese battery pack, and it’s unlikely a Harris successor White House would change that. Either way, the best batteries are being made in China, and it’s an all out race between the United States and our allies like South Korea to compete while stalling the damage from their China’s lead.
For this episode Max speaks with The Information’s Steve LeVine, who runs their reporting on the battery arms race and EVs at large, aptly branded The Electric. Steve is a career journalist who’s covered international affairs in countries like Russia and Kazakhstan, the market for oil in the wake of the soviet union, and most recently, the chaotic new economy and arms race happening with batteries. He even wrote a book about it in 2015. The story of EV batteries is also the story of the world’s greatest superpowers duking it out. Let’s get up to speed with him.
Steve's newsletter The Electric: https://www.theinformation.com/features/the-electric
Steve's 2015 Book, The Powerhouse, on How US Labs Invented The Modern Rechargeable Battery: https://www.amazon.com/Powerhouse-America-China-Great-Battery/dp/0143128329/
Learn More About The American EV Jobs Alliance: https://evpolitics.org
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Max speaks to Elena Ciccotelli of the EVs 4 Everyone Podcast to get some insights on the industry and how EVs are being sold, as well as break down some of the more common social media misconceptions that is virally spread about them.
EVs 4 Everyone: https://evs4everyone.com
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The show returns with a headline guest! Political guru and Obama shaman David Axelrod joins Directly Current to weigh in electric vehicle's polarized politics and Max helps recommend him a suitable EV — that isn't a Tesla!
Learn More About EV Politics and the American EV Jobs Alliance: https://evpolitics.org
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Max sits down for a nerdy chat with young engineer and Clemson student Andrew Lambrecht, who's already making waves in the EV industry hot off the heels of a summer internship at Lucid and freelance writing extensively on EV bargains and market watch for outlets like Business Insider and InsideEVs. Let's learn how EVs are truly better from a technological point of view and why young talented people like Andrew want to work on them!
Andrew's Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-current-review/ -
EVs need DC fast charging to work for long highway trips, but retailers and merchants need to know it's worth their time and energy to install them. In this episode Max sits down with Karl Doenges, EV charging liaison at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), and John Eichberger, who works for their Transportation Energy Institute (TEI), to understand how fuel retailers can play a major role in expanding the country's immature and sometimes unreliable network of DC fast chargers for electric cars—just like they've done with gas before.
Learn About TEI's Research: https://www.transportationenergy.org/
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In the first episode of Directly Current, Max sits down with venerable Republican political strategist Mike Murphy, who's worked on many high-profile campaigns since the Reagan days, to discuss why conservatives dislike EVs and what the national climate for them looks like in the US amidst a turbulent election year.
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Welcome to the EV Politics podcast, Directly Current.
