Chinese Companies Responsible For 76% Of Global EV Sales

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CleanTechnica does a great job of keeping readers informed about EV sales in various countries and regions around the world. A recent report broke down EV sales by manufacturer and showed BYD in the lead by a wide margin. Another focused on Europe, where nearly a quarter of all new cars sold in October had a plug. It even breaks down sales in countries like Colombia and continents like Africa. But a headline in The Guardian caught our attention at the daily staff meeting at CleanTechnica global headquarters today. “China’s Share Of Global Electric Car Market Rises To 76 Percent,” it said.

Wow! Think about that for a moment. Three-quarters of all electric cars in the world are made by Chinese companies! That puts all the frothing at the mouth over tariffs in Europe and the US in perspective. Those countries have every right to be worried about their domestic auto industries, which are so clearly unable to compete with their Chinese rivals. Some may ask whether the boost the Chinese government gives to its manufacturers — which includes providing land at little or no cost to construct factories, low interest loans to get fledgling companies started, and a thousand other perks and incentives — means those companies have an unfair advantage. The answer is, of course they do. But it’s not like other countries don’t give a helping hand to their domestic businesses as well. Many of those companies fail to thrive, so it’s not like China is propping up companies that don’t succeed. The ones that do are lean, mean production machines. Think BYD and CATL, both of which are dominating their respective sectors in the EV industry.

EV Sales Increase Globally

Between January and October, sales of EVs globally reached 14.1 million units, according to the China Passenger Car Association, with 69% of those sales in taking place in China. In October, China’s share surpassed three-quarters of all EV sales in the world. The figures suggest that China is on track to increase its share of the global EV market, The Guardian reported. Last year, just under 60% of new EV registrations were in China, according to the International Energy Agency.

The vast majority of global EV sales happen in China, the EU, and the US, with China dominating the market. But tariffs imposed by the western markets in recent years have threatened to hit the brakes on China’s rapidly expanding industry, which has been named by Beijing as one of the “new three” priority areas for China’s economic development and green transition. Chinese EVs are all but blocked from the US market. This year, the US increased the tariffs on Chinese electric cars from 25% to 100%. Donald Trump has promised to impose an additional levy of 10% on all imports from China. The EU has also decided to impose tariffs on Chinese EVs of up to 35%, on top of existing duties of 10%, a decision that was condemned by China.

If You’re Buying, China Is Selling

Although some western markets are becoming more difficult to penetrate for Chinese companies, the strong demand and support for EVs at home has continued. China recently doubled the subsidy available to car buyers to support EV purchases, to 20,000 yuan ($2,750) for consumers who trade in their conventional cars. Tesla, the US car company led by Elon Musk, appeared to be one of the beneficiaries of the new Chinese subsidy in September. Tesla’s sales increased by 7% in the third quarter.

China’s auto sales to Russia have also continued to surge. Data shared on Monday by Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, showed that exports to Russia have increased by 109% in the past two years, while exports to the US have dropped 23% in the same period. Cui said that Chinese carmakers were “eager to export” to Russia, as international rivals avoided the market because of “risks.” The US and the EU banned the export of cars to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. China has no such political qualms. If someone is willing to buy its vehicles, it is more than happy to supply them.

BYD Leads The Pack

BYD is the shining success story for Chinese EV sales. It seems to crank out a new model every month, many of them optimized for customers in individual countries like Australia or Mexico. By contrast, once mighty Volkswagen says its new Trinity program, which is already behind schedule, will not get products into the marketplace until 2032. At the rate the Chinese auto industry is going, Volkswagen might find itself on the brink of extinction by then.

One thing overlooked by many outside of China is how companies like BYD have created an entirely new market segment — the extended range EV. It has a much larger battery than traditional plug-in hybrids so it can drive further on electrons alone. It also has an onboard range extender engine because range anxiety is a factor in China just as is in most other countries. The EREV takes that range anxiety and eliminates it. It is the ideal situation? No, because there is still an internal combustion engine involved and that means those cars can still be responsible of some tailpipe emissions from time to time — but far less than if the engine was running constantly. Not only that, it gets people used to plugging in their cars, so that in the not too distant future they may lose their fear of electric cars entirely. We probably shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

BYD has just commissioned its second dedicated roll on/roll off ship to transport its electric cars and plug-in hybrids to foreign markets. The 200-meter (656-foot) long freighter named BYD Changzhou can carry up to 7,000 cars and is currently on its way to Europe with almost 5,000 BYD vehicles on board. In the next two years, the company plans to have a total of seven such vessels in operation. If the US and Europe don’t want affordable EVs, there are plenty of other countries that do. How long will Europe and the US be able to resist the rising tide of Chinese-made electric cars? There is a lot riding on the answer to that question.