How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars?

What does the Chinese electric vehicle market look like today?

As a result of all this, China now has an outsized domestic demand for electric vehicles: according to a survey by US consulting firm AlixPartners, more than 50% of Chinese respondents were considering battery electric vehicles as their next car in 2021, the highest proportion in the world and twice the world average.

There are a host of made-in-China options for these customers, including BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Geely, Nio, Xpeng and LiAuto. While the first three are examples of gas-powered car companies that have successfully transitioned to electric vehicles quickly, the last three are pure-electric startups that have gone from nothing to household names in less than a decade.

And the rise of these companies (and other Chinese tech behemoths) has coincided with the rise of a new generation of car buyers who don’t view Chinese brands as less glamorous or lower quality than foreign brands. “Because they grew up with Alibaba, because they grew up with Tencent, they were indeed born into a digital environment, and they are much more comfortable with Chinese brands than their parents, who would still rather buy a German brand or a Japanese brand,” Tu says. The fact that these Chinese brands have sprinkled a bit of nationalism into their marketing strategy also helps, Tu says.

Can other countries replicate China’s success?

Many countries are almost certainly watching China’s experience with electric vehicles and feeling jealous. But it may not be so easy for them to achieve the same success even if they copy China’s playbook.

While the United States and some countries in Europe meet the objective requirements for boosting their own electric vehicle industries, such as technological capability and established supply chains, he notes that they also have different political systems. “Is this country ready to invest in this sector? Is he ready to grant special protection to this industry and leave it an extremely high political priority for a long time? ” she asks. “It’s hard to say.”

“I think the interesting question is, would a country like India or Brazil be able to replicate that?” Mazzocco asks. These countries do not have as strong a traditional auto industry as China’s, nor do they have the sophisticated experience of the Chinese government in managing massive industrial policies through a diverse set of policy tools, including credits, grants, land use agreements, tax breaks and public procurement. But China’s experience suggests that electric vehicles can be an opportunity for developing countries to leapfrog developed ones.

“It’s not that you can’t replicate it, but China has decades of experience in exploiting these [systems] explains Mazzocco.

Chinese brands are now turning to other markets. What challenges do they face?

For the first time ever, Chinese electric vehicle companies feel they have the opportunity to expand outside of China and become global brands. Some of them are already entering the European market and are even considering coming to the United States, despite its saturated market and the sensitive political situation. Chinese gasoline cars could never have dreamed of this.