President Trump is moving to keep Chinese tech out of America’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. But California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom is signing on to a network tied to Beijing. Someone should tell him.
The Trump administration has proposed a rule, open for comments until March 16, requiring that federally-funded EV chargers be 100% made in America.
Sensible. Overdue. Good for workers, good for national security.
Days later, UK energy company Octopus Energy Generation, announced an investment of nearly $1 billion in California clean energy companies. Octopus Energy’s Electroverse system — a software platform through which EV drivers can pay to use public charging networks — collects data on your credit card, your travel patterns, the type of car you drive. Octopus Energy has separately partnered with China’s PGC Power on a joint venture to trade renewable energy in China.
As the Chinese celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse, Newsom is transforming his green agenda into a New Year’s intelligence gift exceeding the Chinese Communist Party’s wildest dreams.
Consider this: the Golden State has over 200,000 charging ports, and 94% of residents live within 10 minutes of a charger. A Chinese-linked network will soon know where Californians go, when they go, and what they drive. That’s not a charging network. That’s a surveillance network.
This isn’t paranoia. It’s precedent. Israel famously used traffic camera data from Tehran to track and eliminate Iranian military leaders. The same class of data, including location, movement, and timing, is what Electroverse will harvest every time a California driver plugs in.
Imagine the CCP tracking a California National Guard commander’s commute, a defense contractor’s daily route to Edwards Air Force Base, or a Marine’s family near Fightertown USA in San Diego.
The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $5 billion for EV chargers, but President Joe Biden had quietly watered down the Buy America requirements to just 55% domestic content. The new Trump rule closes that loophole and restores common sense.
And here’s what Sacramento refuses to acknowledge: American companies are already stepping up. A California-based company called Sparkz (on whose advisory board I serve) and its partners are already manufacturing fully domestic battery solutions for EV chargers. No Chinese supply chains. No foreign kill switches that can suddenly turn the grid dark.
Sparkz has built a complete domestic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery energy solution, with all components sourced from US suppliers. The lithium is mined and processed in North Carolina. The batteries don’t use cobalt, whose supply chain is dominated by China.
By 2026, full charger supply chain integration is on track. By 2027, domestic battery component production will scale to meet national demand. Buy American, charge American.
EV chargers are no longer just conveniences but are nodes on the American power grid. Foreign-controlled hardware, firmware, and circuit boards embedded in that grid represent a national security risk that any serious governor would want to avoid.
Instead, Newsom is sprinting toward it.
EV chargers should be built with American materials, American labor, and American security standards. Newsom should sign onto the Trump standards — and disentangle California from the Chinese-aligned Octopus before it’s too late.
The Transportation Department is accepting public comments on the Buy America rule until March 16. Californians should weigh in and tell the Feds to lock China out of your charger. If Newsom won’t do it, you still can.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a distinguished fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation.
