Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1531014
JANUARY 2025 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 9 closed. We'd have a huge supply chain crisis, much like the oil embargo days in the early '70s. (I may have been young, but I remember it.) I'm an advocate for EVs, but I have some personal misgivings about the economic impact of EV charging. e challenges are two-fold. First, there's the inherent delay of recharg- ing during long-haul travel. Less obvious but more concerning to me is the economic impact of the service station sup- ply chain. ese retail stores, oen run as mom- and-pop shops, are a hub to the community. Too many sit in locations where converting to all-electric charging for profit would sim- ply not pencil out. Read Mike's column and draw your own conclusions, but I think that the slowing EV adoption globally could be influenced by both of these factors. My solution? Hydrogen is a much more easily integrated option into the existing distribution network. Filling your hydro- gen tank would look ver y similar to filling a gas tank. Local businesses continue their role in the local economy, and the pre- dicted copper shortages worldwide could be reduced. I've read that some automak- ers are signaling a shift to hydrogen, so we will see what happens. ese topics and others make this a salient time to examine our priorities, the trends we want to follow, and what has captured your interest. Welcome to an exciting new year. SMT007 It doesn't take much thought to real- ize just how tightly all five are intertwined. Nudge one, and they all move a little; shove one hard, and they all move a lot. No matter how you look at it, there's a lot of jiggling going on. e experts we talked to emphasized exercis- ing caution as you start the new year. ey used words like "trepidation," "confusion," and "uncer- tainty," but it wasn't gloom-and-doom think- ing or a "woe is me" atti- tude. ere was resolve and even optimism at the core of all the caution. So, here's what we have for you in this issue. Widening our scope, we present two inter views with industr y analysts James Kim and Dennis Reed. Kim is an attorney with expertise in tariffs, and Reed is a tech- nology manufacturing analyst with Edge- water Research. eir perspectives paint a rather detailed picture of the current mar- ket dynamics. From AI to EVs, our columnists always keep it interesting. Jennie Hwang discusses the predominant methods for interact- ing: prompts and prompt engineering. Dan Beaulieu teaches you how to maximize your trade show return, and Tom Yang contin- ues his series on the U.S.-China relationship. is time, his topic is our environmental footprint: "Profit-driven motives can coex- ist with environmental responsibility when companies view sustainability as a path to long-term resilience." Be sure to check it out. In his column, Mike Konrad addresses the troubles with EV charging stations, touch- ing on one of my technology triggers in the process. He cites an alarming statistic: 22% of all public charging stations are non-func- tional at any given moment. Now just imag- ine if one in five gas stations were randomly Nolan Johnson is managing editor of SMT007 Magazine. Nolan brings 30 years of career experience focused almost entirely on electronics design and manufacturing. To contact Johnson, click here.