David Tyfield, Professor of Political Economy, Lancaster University, author of the 2019 book Liberalism 2.0 and the rise of Chinasays, “There is no future for EVs that do not feature a significant, if not disproportionate, Chinese presence.” Chinese companies are too far ahead in the entire electric vehicle supply chain, from minerals to batteries to car manufacturing. ”
Policymakers around the world are concerned about China’s ambitions to control entire supply chains, including the minerals in EV batteries. It is argued that such domination by China threatens individual economies and the (Western-led) global innovation system.
“The world market is now full of cheaper electric cars, and their prices are kept artificially low by huge state subsidies,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. complained earlier this year.
Speaking in Beijing last month, shortly after the EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into China, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the trade bloc was “open to competition” in the EV sector, but that “competition needs to be fair. There is,” he said. ”
In response to the import investigation, Cui Dongxiu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, called on the EU to stop the economic turmoil. “I firmly oppose the EU’s assessment of China’s new energy vehicle exports. It is not because of huge state subsidies, but because of the strong competitiveness of China’s industrial chain under perfect market competition.” wrote Cui on his personal WeChat account, almost certainly echoing the official statement. View.
His Chinese blog is a must-read for auto industry watchers. In addition to insider comments, sales figures are also posted regularly. On September 24, Mr. Cui said that China’s cumulative automobile exports (including EVs and ICEs, including trucks) from January to August 2023 will reach 3.22 million units, and exports will expand at a rate of 65%. It was reported that Japan has fallen from the world’s top spot. Largest automobile exporting country.
“From January to August 2023, 1.08 million new energy vehicles were exported, an 82% increase over the previous year,” Choi wrote. Almost all of these, approximately 1.04 million, were passenger cars, an increase of 90% from the previous year.
EU first, US later
BYD currently ships cars to Thailand, UAE, Japan, Australia, Norway, UK, Germany, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico. It is already the best-selling EV brand in Singapore. Although the company has an electric bus division in the United States, there is no official sales channel for its vehicles.
Stella Li, BYD’s senior vice president, told Bloomberg earlier this year that “the U.S. market is not on the table at this point.” She said President Joe Biden’s “New Green Deal” anti-inflation law could “slow down EV adoption in the U.S.” by making affordable EVs less available to U.S. consumers. said.