This is Ira Flato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm very heavily invested in green energy.

Solar panels, battery, car, the whole works.

So when the lease on my electric car was running out, I went shopping for a new one.

And you know what?

I discovered just how few electric cars

are available in the U.S. right now. Many EV models were being discontinued in this country.

China, on the other hand, is taking the opposite track. Last year, the Chinese carmaker, B.Y.D,

cruised past Tesla to become the number one selling

EV car in the world.

Now, if you've never heard of BYD, that might be because you live in the U.S. where you can't

buy one.

Cariffs and regulations have kept these Chinese electric cars off of American roads.

But millions of people around the world, not just in China,

bought a BYD last year. And they might come to Canada, where I might get to see or drive one.

Electric cars, of course, run on batteries, and that's another market that China has cornered.

China leads the world in battery production. More than

70% of the world's batteries come from China. So why is China lapping us in renewable energy tech?

And what would it take for the U.S. to catch up? Is it too late? Let me introduce my guest.

Kyle Chan is a fellow at the Brookings Institution. He studies

Chinese technology, development, and industrial policy. Welcome to Science Friday. Great to be here,

Ira. Nice to have you. You wrote a really interesting op-ed piece for the New York Times called,

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