According to recent reports, electric vehicles (EVs) are set to dominate the U.S. and Europe between 2035 to 2040. These estimates, however, are not quite as impressive as what China's already achieving in the EV game. At least, that's what Tesla CEO Elon Musk told U.S. governors on Saturday, at the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association.

"China’s probably going [to] be ahead of that because China’s been super-pro EV," Musk argued. The reason for this, he said, is China's more aggressive environmental policies. Musk went on to explain:

I don’t think a lot of people know this but China’s environmental policies are way ahead of the U.S. Their mandate for renewable energy far exceeds the U.S. Sometimes people are under the impression that China is either dragging their feet or somehow behind the U.S. in terms of sustainable energy promotion, but they are by far the most aggressive on Earth; it’s crazy. In fact, the coalition of Chinese car manufacturers just wrote the Chinese government to beg them to slow down the mandate, because it’s too much. They need to make 8 percent electric vehicles in the next year or in two years or something; they can’t physically do it.

Overall, Musk (who supposedly signed a deal to build a Gigafactory in China) seemed impressed. "China’s by far the most aggressive on electric vehicles and solar," he added. "That’s a common misperception — that they’re not. It’s one Google search away to figure this out by the way. It’s pretty easy."


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