China's battery packs plummet in price again. Hydrogen prices didn't decline and BNEF triples its estimates for future costs. The implications are huge.
Maybe it happens in isolated incidents but it’s certainly not widespread in any battery factories I’ve visited. These factories are incredibly automated because their government is pumping tons of money into battery manufacturing. Any foreign company purchasing these batteries is basically talking a subsidy from the Chinese government, it’s a good deal for everyone except the wider Chinese economy in the short term really.
Factory labor is typically from rural parts of the country where there is less opportunity, but the Chinese attitude toward holidays is much better than we have particularly in the USA. By coordinating the whole country gets several week long holidays a year to return to their hometowns or to do larger vacations with truly no pressure to think about work during that time. The standard of living in China has drastically risen over the previous 2 decades and companies simply can’t get away with the same level of poor working conditions they used to be able to. There’s a reason that so many companies are moving their manufacturing to other parts of SE Asia, labor in China simply isn’t that cheap anymore.
Maybe it happens in isolated incidents but it’s certainly not widespread in any battery factories I’ve visited. These factories are incredibly automated because their government is pumping tons of money into battery manufacturing. Any foreign company purchasing these batteries is basically talking a subsidy from the Chinese government, it’s a good deal for everyone except the wider Chinese economy in the short term really.
Factory labor is typically from rural parts of the country where there is less opportunity, but the Chinese attitude toward holidays is much better than we have particularly in the USA. By coordinating the whole country gets several week long holidays a year to return to their hometowns or to do larger vacations with truly no pressure to think about work during that time. The standard of living in China has drastically risen over the previous 2 decades and companies simply can’t get away with the same level of poor working conditions they used to be able to. There’s a reason that so many companies are moving their manufacturing to other parts of SE Asia, labor in China simply isn’t that cheap anymore.