(graph from X post by Charlie Bilello, https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1672590401411379200)

The Chinese are doing something despicable these days. They had the nerve to build a better mousetrap and sell it way cheaper than we can. Tsk-tsk. 

There is no way that Chinese mega companies can undercut American prices through government subsidies these days. The markets are too big, the costs too immense, and the government’s capacity to dole out favors to big industry is hampered by a flailing economy and a shortage of tax revenue. 

On this side of the Pacific, government has been far more generous to domestic manufacturers. It has been subsidizing U.S. made and purchased cars by $10,000 or more of combined federal and state dollars in some places. And it is providing huge subsidies on the purchase of solar panels and wind turbines. 

These are sound policies designed to reduce the world’s dependence on a non-sustainable resource and transition toward sustainability. Nobody argues about offering consumers a better deal and incentivize a sustainability transition, unless it is China offering us those incentives through better engineering. 

Two instances highlight our hypocrisy. These days there is more new sustainable energy capacity added to our grid than non-sustainable capacity. The reason is not because sustainable energy such as wind and solar is cleaner. It is mostly because sustainable energy is now cheaper, at least if our antiquated grid can move the energy from where it is generated to where we live. 

China has almost singlehandedly created a revolution in solar panels. This week’s graph shows the price of solar panels since the 1970s when I studied alternative energy as a physics major in college. The vertical scale is logarithmic because the price drops per watt of power provided have dropped so incredibly. Looking up prices at my supplier of solar panels, I see the price has dropped from well over $100 per watt, to about 25 cents per watt. 

That means an average household could purchase enough solar power to run their home for about $2,500, plus the various other inverters, racks, storage, and wiring that might be necessary. The total bill for electricity self sufficiency will still come in below $10,000 for an average household do-it-yourselfer, and will pay itself back in free energy in just two to five years, depending on whether one has normal or very low grid electricity costs. 

Those figures do not even include generous government subsidies. And, they are thanks primarily to China. That one nation produces almost 80% of the world’s supply of solar panels, and installs more solar panels each year than the rest of the world combined. They add more solar energy to their grid each year than the U.S. adds in any form, renewable or not. 

Because of these huge economies of scale and amazing innovation and engineering, the price of a solar panel has dropped 400-fold since I first became interested in energy self-sufficiency. 

Our response to their incredible innovation? There are attempts to ban their technologies within our country, or impose a hefty tax that would double the cost of a solar cell for our citizens. Maybe we aren’t the nation of “the better mousetrap.” We’ll teach them. We will double the cost to our consumers while markets worldwide can have access to a better technology and more affordably. 

Another example of “we’ll show you, we will shoot ourselves in the foot” is innovation in electric vehicles. 

I’d love to buy a Tesla. They are very innovative, but I have a 600 mile bladder (so far), and they only have 300 mile batteries. I applaud Tesla for their innovations. They are doing a lot to popularize EVs, but they aren’t driving domestic income much. Cars are materials-intensive, but not very human resource intensive. Detroit produces more cars now than in 1970, but with just a tenth of the workers. And, the materials for cars often come from other countries, especially China for the rare earth metals for motors and batteries. 

Still, Tesla has been a world leader and wonderful American asset since it started in 2003, until recently. Now, a Chinese company called BYD (which stands for Build Your Dream) that also began in 2003 is selling more cars worldwide, with similar Tesla quality and innovation, at unbelievable prices. This year they are coming out with a hybrid combination of an EV with a gas engine that has an affordable price and a range of 1,200 miles. That’s double my, and perhaps anybody’s bladder

Feature for feature, a BYD EV is about two thirds the price of a Tesla. If one is looking for a car that could go from Plattsburgh to New York City, about 300 miles, the cheapest Tesla is still around $40,000, before subsidies, but a BYD anywhere but in the U.S. could do it for about $25,000. There are BYDs with greater range than that at price points half of Tesla’s.

And, if you really wanted to economize, but only go perhaps to Glens Falls and back, about 230 miles, a BYD could transport you for about $16,000. What? Heck, if you are an urban commuter and didn’t see yourself ever driving much more than about 150 miles in an outing or day, you can buy a BYD Seagull in China for $9,700. These are not golf carts on wheels, but are more like a four door BMW Mini, designed by Lamborghini and perfect for parking in urban streets. And, if you find yourself needing to commute 100 miles to work in one of them, there are no worries. They can go from 30% to 80% charge levels if connected only 30 minutes to a charger at work or increasingly on highways at rest stops. 

Tesla has said it would produce a $25,000 car to compete. They have been saying it for six years now. I guess Musk has been busy buying Twitter instead of maintaining the amazing arc of innovation that made him a household name for all the best reasons originally. 

So, how should we respond when faced with daunting competition and innovation? We once put our heads together and built an even better mousetrap. We sent people to the moon and back within the Kennedy decade. We invented the microprocessor, the first personal computers, and myriad other innovations. Now, we try to ban innovation. 

There may be reasons why we think China’s political system is not our cup of tea. They probably think the same about ours these days. We may also believe Musk’s social agenda is not our cup of tea either, but that does not stop us from encouraging his innovations in cars and space travel. Like any war, these brooding cold trade wars end up doing more harm than good. We need a way to once again be the beacon of innovation based not on policies out of Washington but on the brilliance found by tinkerers and inventors in garages and megalabs across this country. We don’t get there by preventing competition. We do so by opening it up. We need to resolve legitimate complaints with our competing countries, often based on nuanced cultural differences. But, the stakes are too large, for all humanity, to not get past these annoyances, in the interest of innovation and sustainability.