About this item
Highlights
- A sweeping portrait of the EV transformation and what it means for all of us.The question is no longer if electric vehicles will happen, or even when they'll happen, but how.
- About the Author: Mike Colias is a Wall Street Journal reporter and veteran of the US automotive beat.
- 320 Pages
- Business + Money Management, Industries
Description
About the Book
"For electric vehicles, the question is no longer if they'll happen, or even when, but how-and veteran automotive beat reporter Mike Colias shows you just that. This is his deeply reported insider view of the hard pivot in the car business, a $2 trillion industry that hasn't undergone a change this profound in its 120-year history. Already, the transition to EVs is sending ripples across all aspects of the global economy. Colias documents the massive transformation from internal combustion engines to battery-powered vehicles from every angle. He takes you inside the boardrooms where executives chasing Tesla battle over EV strategies, in fear of being left behind. He brings you to family-run car dealerships wrestling with the decision of whether to sell EVs-or sell their business. He follows entrepreneurs looking for hidden opportunities along lonely stretches of road that will soon need charging stations. He walks the floors of battery factories where scientists try to pack ever more power into the same space. He talks to power train engineers whose skills, once the beating heart of the car business, are rapidly becoming obsolete. Change is inevitable, but rarely have we seen someone capture what business transformation means in so much detail, bringing to life such change's profound effect on everything and everyone"--Book Synopsis
A sweeping portrait of the EV transformation and what it means for all of us.
The question is no longer if electric vehicles will happen, or even when they'll happen, but how. Veteran automotive reporter Mike Colias takes you inside the transformation in this thoroughly reported profile of the hard pivot in the car business, a $2 trillion industry undergoing the biggest change in its 120-year history--a change that is already sending ripples across the entire global economy.
Colias documents the inevitable shift from pistons to electrons from every angle, taking you inside the boardrooms where executives battle over their EV strategies to take on Tesla and, more recently, emerging Chinese powerhouses such as BYD. He brings you to family-run car dealerships deciding if they'll sell EVs--or sell their businesses. He follows entrepreneurs along lonely stretches of road that will soon need charging stations. He talks to power-train engineers whose skills were once the beating heart of the automotive industry but who now find themselves being replaced by coders.
This is an epic exploration that stretches from Detroit to Japan to Germany to China, and from factories in Normal, Illinois, and Haywood County, Tennessee, to a burgeoning mining operation along the shores of California's briny, lithium-rich Salton Sea.
Inevitable is a deeply enjoyable and smart book that uses masterful storytelling to capture the expanse and dynamism of the transition to electric vehicles in profound detail, bringing to life its seismic effects on everything and everyone.
Review Quotes
Advance Praise for Inevitable:
"This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the massive shift that is upending the auto industry as we've known it. It reads like a thriller, and it should--the stakes involved for the world automotive industry could not be higher." -- Mike Murphy, political strategist; founder and CEO, EV Politics Project
"Inevitable is a comprehensive account of the greatest upheaval in the transportation industry since the invention of the internal combustion engine. One of the best automotive journalists in the world, Colias delivers an unvarnished retelling of the EV revolution, warts and all. Essential reading for everyone interested in the future of the car industry." -- Sean McLain, reporter, Wall Street Journal; coauthor, Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn
"Electric cars with supercomputer brains and Chinese supply chains have launched a global industrial arms race US automakers and workers might not win. Mike Colias's colorful, deeply reported book takes you inside the war rooms, from Detroit to Shanghai." -- Joe White, coauthor, Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry
"Inevitable is an enlightening and entertaining depiction of the most important transformation of the auto industry since cars replaced horses. Colias makes a convincing argument that EVs are here to stay, making it important to understand their evolution." -- Gregory Zuckerman, special writer, Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Mike Colias is a Wall Street Journal reporter and veteran of the US automotive beat. He is based in Detroit, where he has covered General Motors for fourteen years and, five years ago, added Ford to his duties. His agenda-setting coverage includes scoops on multibillion-dollar EV factory investments, executive hirings and firings, and closely guarded decisions to add or cut vehicle lines. With access to all the key players in the automotive industry, he has tracked the transition to electric vehicles from its earliest days, relying on hundreds of sources across the automotive sector. Colias has been a business journalist for more than twenty years.