The Electric Arc of History

Western car manufacturers have repeatedly sought to delay the electric transition. So they’re getting run over by Chinese manufacturing. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th November 2026 This is how it works. An industry puts tremendous effort into resisting change: lobbying governments, mobilising the media, pouring money into junktanks. It argues that a transition would threaten jobs, or damage the national interest, or harm poor people, while what it really fears is the cost of retooling its plants or developing new protocols. Then, when the inevitable cliff edge approaches, it whines that change is coming too soon. For reasons beyond its control, it isn’t ready, so the government must delay its plans. This is what triggered the Dutch nitrate crisis, and the UK’s repeated “emergency” exemptions from the ban on a devastating class of pesticides. Now the same dynamic is driving the British crisis over the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The result is that, as the…

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