2030 will mark China’s Green EV Revolution
US Auto Giant GM vows exclusively all-electric by 2035. GM is the company that has done a collaboration with SAIC and Wuling that are both Chinese and they made the car launched in China with the name Wuling Hongguang Mini EV costing less than US$4000. This is the car that sold more than Shanghai made Tesla Model 3. This is why some would like to call it the “Tesla Killer”. This is by far the hottest selling EV of all time in China and the world. Wuling may go into Europe but European environmental requirements will make it double the price as in China. This is a great achievement for the joint venture of Chinese and American companies to work together.
The US and Canada have decided to go all-electric by 2035. So much determination from the Canadian side that it will ban all fuel-powered vehicles by 2035. Will this news come as a surprise to Japanese auto giants like Toyota and Honda who haven’t given many impressive models except for the Prius which is hybrid but not all-electric. If these companies have to sustain in the future, they will have to come up with something hotter than Tesla and Chinese auto entrepreneurs, else they might become the Nokia and HTC of the auto industry.
Who are China’s EV Automakers? Chinese EV automaker Nio to have 4,000 battery swapping stations globally by 2025. This is the same Nio that got US$ 1 Billion of aid from the government when it was just going bankrupt in 2019 and got its 24% shares acquired by the Chinese government. Nio’s boost is because of its Vehicle Battery Separation. Dead Battery can be removed immediately and replaced with a fresh one and good to go. China has an auto policy that outshines any other country’s auto policy because it started giving subsidies to the car owners in the form of free license plates which was a great source of attraction for the buyers. But they proved to be burdensome for the government to give different types of subsidies to the consumer directly and rather not encourage the car manufacturers to build EVs.
First China gave subsidies to the people directly, then in 2020 China moved from people to car manufacturers based on a points gaining system for producing EVs. Now the new target is by 2030, 40% of all vehicles in China will be electric. So they had a sudden policy shift in 2020 where they started giving points for every EV built by any car manufacturer in China. Now they have a lineup of EV makers that are ready to roll out the red carpet for consumers around the world. Chinese auto manufacturer which has Warren Buffett at its back is BYD “Build Your Dreams” This company is also giving out impressive EVs into the market, whether it be passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles, rail transit, batteries, or electronics.
In Shenzhen 100% of 22000 taxis and 100% of 16000 buses are EV. And the winner of this city is Warren Buffett-backed company, BYD. This is the world’s largest charging station in Shenzhen for charging BYD’s EV Taxis and buses. Many Chinese cities are catching up with converting public transport and taxis to EVs. This is undoubtedly the exemplary leadership of China that has led to this innovation-centered city that has electric rails, buses, taxis and a greener environment that is endorsed by everyone.
“The main issue, China is focused on the long term while the US is focused on the next election”, was said by an analyst on a social media platform. Why are trade wars looming over the US-China relationship? This is a clear indication that China is taking the US on all fronts where the US was at first the champion. Climate change on which China was being finger-pointed because of its usage of coal for energy requirements and the environmental deteriorating situation of its cities urged the Chinese government to take stricter measures to move towards a better future. Who says China isn’t doing anything for climate change? The deteriorating situation in densely populated cities of China is being coped up with policies of going carbon neutral by 2060.
People have no idea how much the giant energy and automakers lobbied to eliminate public transportation and clean energy development which is why we see this world how we see it as of now. But things are changing for good. China has an extensive network of public transportations and high-speed rails. People generally do not have the need to drive 2–3 hrs inter-city or inter-province travels for business or for leisure, most of the automobile usage are for daily commutes, which successfully avoids the current shortcomings of EVs i.e. charging time.
More than 800000 plus state-owned chargers have been installed inside of China and only 100000 plus charging stations are in the US which is a clear lack of will of the US government to sponsor something better for its own people. As a democracy’s first lesson that is taught is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. Where are the people who are not being cared for by its own government? Will you call it a democracy?
A very important factor that has to be taken into consideration for a long-term strategy of embracing EVs is the “standardization of charging stations so that every EV that is coming out into the market by any car manufacturer can be changed easily. The third most impressive way of charging the EVs is by battery swapping stations which can reduce the charging time to a little less than 5 minutes on longer journeys.
An analyst believes that only Nio, BYD, and Xpeng have a chance to compete with Tesla, BYD’s strength is in battery, Nio’s strength is overall design and marketing. Tesla Model 3 price in China was reduced by 8% to get the subsidy.
Battery production is done by only 3 countries, China, Korea, and Japan. Out of this 100% share of battery production, China has a 60% share. Reports suggest that Korea wants to inject $35 billion in its battery production to go ahead of China. Apple is in talks with the Chinese battery producers for EVs. These are some of the headlines that show the seriousness of the Lithium-ion batteries that China is capable of procuring raw material, producing batteries, and supplying for the global demands. Where are other countries in this race? I would like you to comment on this if the country you are living in has anything to share. Nevertheless, share your thoughts on batteries which are the new oil controlled by very few manufacturers.
NIO ET7 has a range of 620 miles that is 1000 KMs. Its second offering is EC6 with 615 KMs, NIO’s ES8 has 580 KMs of range and its ES6 has 610 KMs of range with a 100kWh battery pack. The point not to be missed here is that all these EVs from NIO are marketing zero to 100 KMs in just less than 5 seconds which is a gauge of a car’s performance in the US and Europe. BYD HAN EV has 600 plus KMs of the range which also got the iF design award of 2021. Mentioning again that BYD has led Shenzhen to become the model city of EV revolution in China and XPENG P7 has a range of 700 plus KMs. Other models of Xpeng are G3 and P5. China has much more to offer in terms of manufacturing of EVs by BAIC, SAIC, FAW, Aiways, Dongfeng, Wuling, Changan, GAC, JAC, Geely, to name just a few. There are many many more. Not to mention here that Chinese automakers have joint ventures with all the big names such as BMW, GM, Fiat, Ford, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Kia, Honda, Toyota, etc. Technology cannot be kept inside a bottle as it’s a genie in a bottle that has to come out. Do you want to know what China is capable of?
Tesla has boasted of its autopilot feature. Although there are some accidents reported in the US, Tesla fans in India asked Elon Musk in 2020 when it would launch its EVs in the Indian market, of which Elon said that Tesla was coming to India next year. But that next year is nowhere to be seen up till now. A consumer said, if in the future auto-pilot becomes successful on the Indian roads, then it will be the smartest artificial intelligence on Earth. Why is India lagging behind in EV manufacturing? Could you imagine Chinese regulators asking Tesla for security enhancements to its vehicles? Yes, they did it. China is getting quality-conscious for its citizens when it comes to autopilot features. China is the world’s largest auto market and now the new normal is the EV market. Let’s all go green by choice for future generations.
