Mastodawn

“Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s CEO, barely slept for weeks. Three passengers, all in their twenties. His chemistry. His cell. His company’s name on the casing. He had not built it to kill anyone, but it had. He pulled his engineers together with one question: What is the mechanism by which this cell fails, and how do we make that physically impossible”

Someone needs to get this article in front of Mark Carney and Doug Ford and then the stupid limits on Chinese cars need to be eliminated so Canada can start building these things immediately.

This is the future.

China is leading that future and we need to come to terms with it and use our influence to make it, and them, better.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91519302/byd-nail-test-why-this-54-billion-innovation-is-terrifying-western-auto-executives?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
#climateEmergency #climatechange #byd #china #canada #canpoli

The Nail Test: Why this $54 billion innovation is terrifying Western auto executives

The practice of reproducing failure on purpose until the physics revealed itself became the bedrock of BYD’s entire operation.

Fast Company

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Zazzoo 🇨🇦1d ago

@chris An innovative take on batteries that makes them safer, an alternate view on electric vehicles from a country that understands the importance of sustainability. BYD cars look interesting and I can't wait to see one in the wild - and other manufacturers' - available as alternatives to the F-150 Lightnings or Tesla iPhones-on-wheels 'domestic' manufacturers think we all crave.

But eyes wide open. The issue with China has always been in their treatment of labour. This article gives me visions of nets mounted to the exterior walls of factories.

Human + Fixture = Robot

Robots are not only used to replace the cost of human lavour - sometimes they're used to remove humans from dangerous environments.

Electrode material was being ladled out of vats with kitchen spoons. Workers in rubber gloves operated machines that looked like repurposed sewing equipment.

Plus this article reads like an ode to Wang Chuanfu who clearly sees himself as the next Elon Musk, moving fast and breaking things.

Just my 2p.

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Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸1d ago

@zazzoo totally agree. That is why we have to lean in as Canadians. The fact is China is the leader and we must learn from a tech and manufacturing perspective, but we also must find ways to influence and impact that country so that the conditions of all workers, not just those in these high tech spaces, are safe and treated as workers should be treated.

Too long we have been using China as our cheap work shop and hypocritically lambasting them for the way they treat workers and claiming they produce “cheap stuff”. Yet here we are buying it for 40 years.

We need to turn that on its head, grow up, and work *with* them. Form real partnerships that can then demand and improve the working conditions and human rights.

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Human 3500 1d ago

@chris @zazzoo We shouldn't ignore that the US has plenty of questionable labour as well. Illegal workers power the hospitality, and landscaping industries especially in the south.

I am not really sure how widespread prison labour is in the US, but I expect that there is quite a bit (to replace slavery).

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Zazzoo 🇨🇦

@human3500 @chris Very true. Their hungry for-profit prison system that pushes for incarceration as source of enslaved labour, combined with inmates' disenfranchisement from the political system is probably the largest-scale human rights abuse in the US.