# How a Chinese battery factory sparked a political meltdown in a small Michigan town

An episode of [Long Reads](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1729547310), 13 Mar 2025, 33 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/f1835800/podcast/play/99812529/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-2-13%2Ff855da39-9645-8f8f-4280-70b9e85b0c01.mp3

The Chinese company Gotion's EV battery plan was the kind of big, ambitious, the U.S. economy — and the struggling small town of Big Rapids — needed. But that’s not how some locals saw it. In this narrated feature Rest of World explores how ambitious executives at Gotion wanted to join America’s EV gold rush, but were met with geopolitics in rural Michigan, USA. Written by Viola Zhou. Narrated by Jane Seidel. Original story: https://restofworld.org/2025/gotion-ev-battery-us-expansion-backlash-michigan/

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