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The electric car, a vehicle that sits idle for the majority of its existence, might evolve into something far more dynamic: a miniature AI factory. This is the bold concept championed by Robin Zeng, the president of CATL, the world's largest battery manufacturer. Zeng's vision redefines the electric car from a passive asset into an active contributor to our technological infrastructure.
Previously, we explored the "electro-oceanic era," a concept detailing how China's vast fleet of electric vehicle batteries, particularly those utilized in its burgeoning electric shipping industry, could serve as a critical backup for its entire electrical grid. This system leverages solar energy production peaks, where excess power is generated but often lost due to storage limitations and cost. By integrating these batteries, which already have dual purposes like powering ships, into strategic port locations, China creates a resilient energy network.
This ingenious solution, combining solar power with existing battery infrastructure in coastal regions, is a remarkable puzzle solved. However, Zeng's latest idea transcends this by bringing that cloud-based concept down to earth and putting it on wheels. The singularity, he suggests, won't arise from isolated, massive data centers but from a distributed, cooperative network of computational nodes – the very vehicles we use daily.
Imagine a future where cars, those familiar nodes of inference we already possess, become central to artificial intelligence processing. This is, of course, assuming you're not still navigating your world with transportation technology from your great-grandparents' era. These mobile computing hubs, essentially underutilized servers, offer untapped processing power waiting to be harnessed.
An electric car possesses three key assets: a substantial battery, significant computing capacity, and increasingly sophisticated AI-oriented chips. Yet, for a large portion of each day, these vehicles are parked and inactive. Zeng's fundamental question is elegantly simple yet profoundly powerful: why should this valuable asset remain dormant?
If millions of electric vehicles globally could connect to a shared energy and computational network, they could perform two crucial functions when not in use. Firstly, they could store and return energy to the grid, stabilizing power demands. Secondly, they could contribute their computing power to AI models, essentially becoming distributed factories for processing data and generating insights.
This concept is particularly relevant given the relentless growth of the AI industry, despite protectionist measures in the West. For those unfamiliar with the term, "tokens of inference" are not related to cryptocurrency. Instead, they represent the discrete units of text, image, or data that an AI processes with each generated response.
Every time you ask an AI to modify a photo or provide an opinion on geopolitical events, it's processing thousands of these inference tokens, each consuming electricity, computational power, and processing time. This is the very engine of the AI economy, where even a simple "thank you" to ChatGPT requires computational work that must be processed.
Consider the environmental footprint of our digital interactions. Behind the scenes, in the basements of our buildings, countless dormant processors in massive data centers, maintained at ideal temperatures and powered by advanced battery systems, are quietly at work. Some argue that our planet's resources are finite, but perhaps the true resource is human ingenuity.
Resources aren't merely minerals, air, or water; they are often invented or unlocked through human innovation. Consider petroleum, which was a ubiquitous, unused substance for Native Americans for millennia before its strategic importance was recognized. Similarly, solar energy, a constant natural phenomenon, was largely unutilized for human needs for countless ages.
Ideas, mathematical formulas, music, and poetry are non-rivalrous goods that are created rather than depleted. Just as concerns about the depletion of whale blubber, a primary energy source in the 18th and 19th centuries, vanished with the advent of new technologies, our perception of resource scarcity can change. The invention of the digital camera, for instance, drastically reduced the need for photographic film, proving that innovation can be a powerful environmental force.
The key isn't to restrict resource use out of fear of scarcity, but to develop our productive capabilities imaginatively, multiplying resources through innovation. Zeng's idea taps into this principle by envisioning millions of data centers on wheels, mobile "electro-hives" facilitating distributed computing, while superpowers engage in a costly race to build the most powerful centralized cloud.
This bottom-up, competitive approach, driven by private enterprise like CATL, is crucial. Robin Zeng, an individual who built his company without state five-year plans, exemplifies this spirit of innovation. His vision, whether fully realized or not, deserves careful consideration, offering a glimpse into a future where electric vehicles are more than just transportation.
The electric vehicle industry is poised for a fundamental transformation. Cars will shift from being mere instruments for moving from point A to point B to becoming mobile batteries supporting a distributed network of computational nodes. This represents a significant evolution in their core function and economic potential.
One might argue that a car's primary purpose will always be transportation, a vital aspect of our daily lives, facilitating commutes, visits, and hobbies. However, if we analyze vehicle usage patterns, a stark reality emerges: cars spend approximately 95% of their time parked and inactive. This represents a significant underutilization of a valuable resource.
Focusing on the fuel efficiency of a car with a few occupants, while overlooking its near-constant state of idleness, highlights a potentially misplaced emphasis. This perspective shift, thinking outside the conventional box, mirrors the earlier realization that self-driving cars wouldn't remain idle after dropping off passengers but could function as revenue-generating taxis.
This self-driving taxi concept, when scaled, could dramatically reduce the need for personal car ownership, leading to fewer vehicles, less demand for parking, and a more efficient urban landscape. The implications are profound, altering not just transportation but urban planning and resource allocation.
My own investment decisions have been shaped by such future-oriented insights. For instance, I shifted my focus away from parking spaces, which I once considered a superior investment to apartments due to their lower maintenance and simplified eviction process. Understanding these evolving trends allows for more strategic long-term planning.
The proliferation of storage units in urban areas today is partly a response to urban planning policies restricting car access and partly a reflection of increasingly smaller living spaces. However, it also represents a natural evolution in how we perceive and utilize space, a topic I've explored previously when pondering the future of parking infrastructure.
I follow individuals like Robin Zeng because they offer profound insights into the future, regardless of immediate success or failure. His innovative thinking stands in contrast to those who capitalize on superficial trends, as exemplified by the prevailing political landscape in the United States. Zeng, a self-made visionary, offers a different model of innovation.
His lateral thinking is exquisite, prompting us to question why idle resources, such as parked cars, shouldn't be put to work. This leads to a crucial question for our time: are we witnessing the birth of the electric car, or perhaps its decline, with a new, more integrated purpose emerging?
Will there be more or fewer electric cars in the future, and will we be using more or less AI within them? Chinese vehicles, which have long been perceived as lagging behind Western counterparts, are actually pushing the boundaries, viewing cars not just as transport but as entertainment hubs.
The global electric vehicle fleet, currently around 80 million, is projected to surge to over 250 million by 2030 and exceed 500 million by 2035. This exponential growth will transform the landscape, making today's number seem minuscule in comparison.
The notion of insufficient "on-wheel" computing centers will become even more pronounced in the coming years. Predicting the future is inherently challenging, as analyses often rely on projecting past trends, which is akin to driving by looking only in the rearview mirror.
Such linear projections falter when encountering unexpected turns, like the emergence of hydrogen fuel cell technology or other unforeseen innovations. However, if the integration of AI and distributed electrical backup for electric cars gains traction, it will provide an unprecedented boost to the electric vehicle industry.
This synergy will not only solidify the electric car's advantage over internal combustion engines, which are already obsolete, but also over any other potential competitors. As I've discussed before, parallel evolutions are constantly occurring, and this concept could also be rendered insignificant by unforeseen advancements.
Nevertheless, with vehicles idle 95% of the time, the potential to make them useful during those periods is immense and likely unstoppable. The next frontier might involve extending this concept to our mobile phones and even our bodies for increased computational power, though that's a longer-term prospect.
This vision, however, is already a reality in China, where such innovations are rapidly unfolding. It offers a sense of hope for human progress, witnessing advancements driven by practicality rather than geopolitical spectacle or superficial entertainment.
While other parts of the world focus on wars, international sporting events, or political maneuvering, individuals like Robin Zeng are quietly shaping the future. His work represents a genuine pursuit of human advancement beyond the current distractions of "bread and circuses."
The president of CATL, a titan in the battery manufacturing world, has offered a profound insight. I leave you with a Chinese proverb: "Xiǎn wēi zhì zhù," which translates to "seeing the great in the small." Where some see a parked car, others envision the foundational cell of a planetary energy and computational network.
Thank you for listening to this Podhoc podcast.
