Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

BYD eMax 7 electric MPV launched in India starting at ₹26.9 lakh

<ul><li>The <keyword id="23541778" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Raptee-hv-t30" source="Orion">Raptee.HV T30</keyword> high-voltage electric bike has been launched in India.</li><li>The <keyword id="23543915" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="T30-electric-bike" source="keywords">T30 electric bike</keyword> has been priced at ₹2.39 lakh, with deliveries scheduled to begin in January 2025.</li><li>Here’s everything you need to know about the latest electric bike in the country.</li></ul> <keyword id="23541777" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raptee-HV" source="Orion">Raptee.HV</keyword>, a Chennai-based electric two-wheeler maker has introduced the T30, the company’s first high-voltage electric bike in India, which is also the first such two-wheeler to launch in the country. The Raptee.HV T30 uses technology similar to electric cars, which the company claims allows it to offer performance similar to 250-300 cc ICE vehicles with significantly less heat. <h2>Raptee.HV T30 price and availability</h2>The Raptee.HV T30 is priced at ₹2.39 lakh (ex-showroom) and will be available in four colour options – Arctic White, Eclipse Black, Horizon Red and Mercury Grey. The bike will be available in Chennai and Bengaluru from January 2025, with debut in other key cities in the following months. The company’s factory-integrated experience centre will be opened in its home city Chennai. The company will also open an experience centre in Bengaluru. The bike can be booked from the company’s website for ₹1,000. <h2>Universal charging standard</h2>With the High-Voltage (HV) standard being used, Raptee.HV is the first two-wheeler company to adopt universal charging standards used by electric cars. This makes it compatible with CCS2 car charging stations across the country. <div type="image" title="India&amp;#39;s First High Voltage Electric Motorcycle-Black" msid="114218263" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The T30 in Black colour option&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> As per the company, there are over 13,500 such charging stations in India at present and this number is expected to double by 2025. “We have taken the core of advanced electric car tech and engineered it for motorcycles. Launching India’s first high-voltage electric motorcycle was a technical challenge from the very beginning,” said Dinesh Arjun, Co-founder &amp; CEO, Raptee.HV. “We believe our HV technology is the missing piece of the puzzle that will accelerate the electrification of motorcycles and revolutionize how motorcycles will be built in the future,” Arjun added. <h2>Raptee.HV T30 features</h2>The Raptee.HV T30 comes with a sporty and premium design. It comes with a minimalistic design, which the company says is inspired by luxury cars. The bike has been designed aerodynamically to enhance performance and range. The T30 is powered by a 240V 5.4kWh battery pack. The battery on the T30 comes with an eight-year warranty. It comes with an IDC-certified range of 200 km and a real-world range of 150 km on a single charge. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114120828" title="The Ola Electric Saga: Are surge in complaints and declining market share a wake-up call for Bhavish Aggarwal?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> Using the portable charger, it can be charged from 20% to 80% in an hour. Using the CCS2 chargers, the bike can be charged from 20% to 80% in 40 minutes. It delivers 22kW of power, which is equivalent to 30BHP power and 70 Nm of torque. It can go from 0 to 60 kmph in just 3.5 seconds and comes with a top speed of 135 kmph. The T30 comes with three default ride modes – Comfort, Power and Sprint. It comes with a touch-screen display, with the company’s RapteeOS. It comes with navigation support with Raptee Maps, Bluetooth connectivity, charger locator and more. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/pixel-9-pro-to-go-on-sale-in-india-from-october-17-price-specs-and-everything-you-need-to-know/articleshow/114210864.cms">Pixel 9 Pro to go on sale in India from October 17 – price, specs and everything you need to know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/hyundai-ipo-review-everything-you-need-to-know-about-indias-biggest-ipo/articleshow/114203740.cms">Hyundai IPO review – Everything you need to know about India’s biggest IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/byd-emax-7-electric-mpv-launched-in-india-starting-at-26-9-lakh/slidelist/114046121.cms">BYD eMax 7 electric MPV launched in India starting at ₹26.9 lakh</a>

Raptee.HV launches T30, an electric bike that can be charged using car chargers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Germany's automotive industry is facing an increasingly difficult outlook.</li><li>Volkswagen may close factories in Germany for the first time, and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are struggling.</li></ul>Germany's car giants were once the envy of the world, but now find themselves facing a myriad of threats.BMW and Mercedes-Benz have issued profit warnings in recent weeks amid <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-sales-europe-slumping-warning-sign-us-2024-9">slumping EV sales in Europe</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-electric-vehicle-market-could-face-a-brutal-reckoning-2024-5">brutal competition in China</a>, while Volkswagen is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/volkswagen-considers-closing-factories-germany-job-salary-cuts-autos-2024-10">also facing a reckoning</a>.On Wednesday VW said net profit for the three months to September 30 plunged by almost 64% to 1.57 billion euros, with a 30% decline to 12.8 billion euros for the first nine months of the year. A 4% rise in vehicle sales in North America and 16% growth in South America for the nine months was offset by a 1% decline in western Europe and a 12% slide in China — VW's biggest market outside Europe. It now expects to deliver about nine million vehicles this year, or about 240,000 fewer than 2023.Volkswagen is seeking to cut billions in costs after issuing two profit warnings in three months. On Monday, its top union official said the company was planning factory closures in Germany for the first time, along with pay cuts and layoffs. The Golf and Polo maker is one of Germany's biggest employers with about 300,000 workers.Mercedes-Benz is also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-sliding-ev-sales-and-weak-demand-in-china-2024-10">pursuing "cost improvements"</a> after last week's lackluster earnings, while BMW stock has been hit by the recall of some <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bmw-recalls-1-5-mln-vehicles-over-braking-system-issue-1033765005">1.5 million cars over a braking issue</a>.<div type="image" title="New Volkswagen cars at a factory" height="2574" width="4625" msid="114777386" hostid="261" sizebytes="794156"></div><h2 id="58206ab8-4040-4a0f-ac1e-b07e60c53b6a">Fight for survival in China</h2>All three giants face a similar problem: they're no longer selling enough cars in China, the world's largest car market and a one-time cash cow for European automakers. About 21.7 million new vehicles were sold in China last year, per the China Passenger Car Association figures, compared with about 15.6 million in the US and 10.5 million in Europe.Like VW, BMW and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-sliding-ev-sales-and-weak-demand-in-china-2024-10">Mercedes</a> also reported a slide in sales in China in the third quarter, amid waning demand for luxury vehicles and the growing dominance of Chinese EV makers.<div type="image" title="BYD Yangwang U8" height="4093" width="6140" msid="114777389" hostid="261" sizebytes="1395046"></div>Helena Wisbert, professor of automotive economics at Ostfalia University in Germany, told Business Insider: "BMW and Mercedes are selling fewer cars, because the new players in the market for EVs have become really competitive, especially in China."Wisbert said that German manufacturers have failed to anticipate the changing behavior of Chinese consumers and diversify their product lines. She added that Mercedes, BMW, and Volkswagen offer comparatively few hybrid and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/extended-range-electric-vehicles-erev-gas-generator-range-anxiety-2024-8">extended-range vehicles</a> — categories that have proven extremely popular in China.European carmakers are under intense pressure from Chinese rivals such as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-electric-vehicle-china-brands-byd-nio-wuling-zeekr-geely-2023-5">BYD, Nio, and Xiaomi</a>, which offer luxurious EVs vehicles with better <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-ev-makers-battle-for-market-dominance-with-smart-features-2024-5">software experiences</a> — and all at far lower prices.<div type="image" title="Chinese customers assess the Xiaomi SU7 at a flagship store in Shanghai, China." height="2800" width="4200" msid="114777392" hostid="261" sizebytes="344146"></div>To make matters worse, some Chinese automakers are now eyeing expansion in Europe, even with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-electric-vehicles-european-tariffs-retaliation-vw-bmw-mercedes-tesla-2024-10">the European Union planning tariffs on BYD and its rivals</a>.Wisbert said the brand strength of BMW and Mercedes in Europe gave them a crucial advantage over Chinese interlopers — but added that VW would likely face competition from Chinese brands that can build and sell EVs far more cheaply. "In the long run, it's a big threat, especially for Volkswagen."<h2 id="4b4f7370-2052-4695-8ad7-e34b879663db">Slow sales in Europe</h2>At the same time, Germany's automakers are also dealing with a slowdown in EV sales in Europe.Mercedes said last week that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-sliding-ev-sales-and-weak-demand-in-china-2024-10">sales of battery-powered cars</a> fell 31% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, while deliveries of Volkswagen Group EVs in Europe were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://uploads.vw-mms.de/system/production/files/cws/040/668/file/151d368085a7d93bdc93358b5dc3bc7714ea72d0/20241011_Deliveries_Tables_icl_BEV.pdf?1728635690">down 12% in Q3</a>.Demand for electric vehicles has slowed in Europe amid a lack of affordable options and the end of subsidy schemes in some countries, including Germany, where new EV deliveries <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-sales-europe-slumping-warning-sign-us-2024-9">plunged by 69% in August</a>."The European market has failed to return to health as quickly as hoped post-Covid," Matthias Schmidt, an independent auto analyst based in Germany, told BI in an email."That is causing an over-capacity and under-utilisation problem leading to the need for restructuring across European operations, alongside new market entrants such as Chinese carmakers and Tesla increasingly eating up market share."<div type="image" title="Union workers rally outside a Volkswagen plant" height="5464" width="8192" msid="114777385" hostid="261" sizebytes="1564854"></div>Wisbert said that despite Volkswagen and BMW starting to sell battery-electric vehicles more than a decade ago, German companies failed to make EVs their "focus" and are now losing out to rivals such as Tesla and BYD that can build and sell electric cars more cheaply."They missed the chance to get the cost for the battery under control. That's the problem because their competitors can sell cars at a really low price level because they have the battery cost under control," Wisbert said.She warned that attempting to save money by scaling back EV plans would render German carmakers even less competitive in the future. Volkswagen and Mercedes have both adjusted their EV strategies and pushed back targets in recent months as sales stagnate."Right now they're cutting their plans for future investment — and that's not the best way to stay competitive in the future," said Wisbert.Investors are also sounding the alarm, sending Mercedes-Benz shares down more than 11% this year, with BMW sliding 28%. VW, meanwhile, is down about a fifth this year, and close to half the stock price of October 2019. Analysts at UBS have a "sell" recommendation on the stock, and the potential cost and disruption that could be sparked by a "major restructuring."VW, Mercedes, and BMW did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Volkswagen stumbles in China as Germany's auto giants struggle to compete in the EV race

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Electric cars have hit a major speed bump in Europe.</li><li>According to industry data, EV sales fell 44% in August as demand cooled across the continent.</li></ul>Europe is facing plunging sales of electric vehicles — and the continent's struggles are a warning sign for the US.Registrations fell by nearly 44% in August compared with the same month last year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. The slump was driven by a 69% decline in Germany, Europe's biggest car market and economy.The cooling demand has led to questions over whether European automakers can meet the European Union's ambitious climate goals, which require all new cars to be zero-emission by 2035.It's also put pressure on EV companies and their suppliers. One of Europe's key battery manufacturers, Northvolt, announced on Monday <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/northvolt-european-battery-startup-cutting-jobs-sweden-ev-tesla-2024-9">it will lay off 1,600 employees</a> and scale back its expansion plans to focus on existing customers.<h2 id="03606594-0832-457a-a25e-b3bc29e8114e">EVs hit a speed bump</h2>Europe's EV industry is suffering from a complex mixture of challenges, auto industry analysts told Business Insider.In Germany, home to a massive Tesla gigafactory and a famous automotive tradition, demand has been hit by a government decision to phase out subsidies for EVs in December 2023.William Roberts, automotive research lead at battery consultancy Rho Motion, described the decision to pull the country's EV subsidies with barely a week's notice as a "shock removal" that, coupled with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-vs-china-economy-europe-global-decoupling-wall-street-markets-2024-">weak economic conditions,</a> has severely dented consumer sentiment in Germany and the rest of the EU.A lack of affordable electric vehicles has not helped the situation. Although EU customers do have access to some EVs that are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-electric-cars-you-can-buy-in-europe-not-us-2024-9">not available in the US,</a> Roberts said most still fall into the premium category.Dylan Khoo, an analyst at technology intelligence firm ABI Research, told BI: "There are only a handful of models that you could really say are mass market, and even those are quite a bit more expensive than their gasoline counterparts."The lack of affordable models is unlikely to be helped by the EU's proposed tariffs on China-made EVs, which include a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_4301">17% tariff on BYD vehicles and 9% on Teslas</a> imported from China.Roberts said that's probably not great news for drivers. "If the consumer is just looking for the cheapest possible EV, then at the moment, that would probably be satisfied by an imported Chinese vehicle."<h2 id="f811f30f-e910-4869-9a83-5e59c6307df5">Supply chain struggles</h2>Europe has also faced difficulties in developing its EV supply chain, with many <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-11/vw-s-german-factory-closures-highlight-wider-problems-for-europe-s-carmakers">factories left with under capacity</a> and startups such as Northvolt struggling after the demand slowdown hit their ambitious expansion plans."I think for Northvolt there was a sense of over-optimism and over-ambitiousness, when you compare their plans to where some of the manufacturers are," Khoo said.Roberts said Europe has suffered from a patchwork attempt to encourage EV demand and build out its supply chain."The EU is not a federal government like the US — they can't blanket provide huge incentives and subsidies and have every country take them up," he said."So the supply chain is always going to be a bit more fragmented, and that's going to lead to difficulties when you're all trying to move towards one target as a bloc."<h2 id="62b2ae38-d830-442a-bdde-324e3689eed4">A warning for the US</h2>The struggles faced by Europe provide a warning sign to the US, which lags behind its cross-Atlantic neighbor in EV adoption.Electric cars accounted for 25% of new vehicle sales in Europe last year, compared to just 10% in the US, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in-electric-cars">according to IEA data</a>.Like Europe, few affordable EV models are on sale in the US, which experts have suggested has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electrc-vehicle-demand-problem-affordability-expense-price-cost-2023-10">contributed to a slowdown in demand</a> in recent months.Key EV factories and infrastructure have also been delayed as automakers rethink their EV plans and shift focus to hybrids. Ford is halting production of a new electric pickup at a planned factory in Tennessee, and GM is delaying an EV battery plant in Indiana.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-trump-presidential-victory-could-mean-for-evs-tesla-musk-2024-7">Consumers face concerns over subsidies with the election</a> looming, too.Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have cast doubt over whether the $7,500 tax credit for purchasing a new EV, introduced by Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, will continue if they win the presidential election in November.The prospect of crucial subsidies being suddenly removed, as in Germany, could have an equally chilling effect on America's EV industry. However, Roberts said while the US will likely face its own pressures down the line, it has a significant supply chain advantage over the EU."There's a lot more funding available," he said. "If that's used correctly to build out the supply chain, then that can have a much more positive impact than in Europe, where the funding for the supply chain has been a lot more reliant on just the private sector."Still, "I'd argue the US is still in an early adopter phase when it comes to EVs. You'd be silly to not take these warning signs from anyone further ahead of you in the curve," he added.

EV sales in Europe hit a speed bump — and the US should be worried too

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked in 2011 about the Chinese electric-car maker BYD — a <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/byd-stock-sales-warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-china-ev-munger-2023-11">Warren Buffett-backed</a> company focused on cheaper eclectic vehicles with a name short for Build Your Dreams — he simply laughed it off. "Have you seen their car?" <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2023-12-27/in-2011-tesla-ceo-musk-mocked-chinese-competitor-byd-video">he said with a giggle to Bloomberg TV</a>, adding that BYD didn't "have a great product" and "the technology is not very strong."Musk's juvenile expression of hubris was (and still is) singular, but his belief that China's automakers were not a threat was shared across the US auto industry at the time.A lot can change in 13 years. BYD eclipsed Tesla in 2023 as the best-selling EV maker in the world. One out of every three electric cars sold is made by the company, up from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-26/china-s-electric-vehicle-bubble-is-starting-to-deflate?embedded-checkout=true">15% in 2020</a>.Instead of laughing off the competition, Musk is now sounding the alarm on threats from Chinese automakers. On a conference call with investors in January, he said Chinese EVs would "pretty much demolish" other American carmakers if allowed to enter the US. America's biggest car companies have also started to recognize that they must figure out how to make electric cars cheap as soon as possible before China eats their lunch.While the likes of Tesla, GM, and Ford are rolling out a handful of high-priced luxury EV models, Chinese companies already offer a slew of options across a range of price points: starter EVs, beater EVs, ones for getting from point A to point B. And while the American automakers are still trying to win over consumers just in their own country, Beijing is already planning to work around trade barriers and get these cars sold around the world, including in the US."The thought that Chinese-quality engineering and design are not as high quality as the legacy carmakers — that should be put to bed," Tu Le, the founder of Sino Auto Insights, a consultancy focusing on the Chinese EV market, told me. "Right now, the legacies don't have competitive products. There's a vacuum. If China EV Inc. were allowed to enter the US today or next year, the legacies would be gutted."We are witnessing a shock to the global automotive order unseen since Japan barreled into the market in the 1970s. China's EV ascendance has sparked a fight that is forcing companies to stretch the limits of their technological capability and policymakers to reimagine the ideological underpinnings of decades of trade strategy. What's at stake is nothing less than a US industry worth $104 billion, about as much as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/angola-market-overview">Angola</a>'s national GDP, and all the 3 million jobs that come with it."It's a global game. It has been a global game," Le said. "Motherfuckers just haven't been paying attention."It's safe to say EVs have moved beyond the "early adopter" phase of the technological life cycle and are now working to conquer mainstream car buyers in the US. In 2023, 1 million were sold in the country for the first time, up from 918,500 in 2022. Despite this growth, there have been flashing red signs that American automakers' strategy — making EVs that are just like combustion-engine cars but about $10,000 more expensive — isn't working. Projections for sales growth in the years ahead have come down, and consumers have expressed dissatisfaction with the crop of cars available. To overcome that, carmakers have realized they must lure customers with cheaper models. Earlier this month, Ford CEO Jim Farley said his company was "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-tesla-model-2-elon-musk-jim-farley-electric-vehicles-2024-2">ruthlessly</a>" focused on developing a more affordable mass-market car. Tesla has been saying a cheaper car is on the way for years, without success (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-to-build-affordable-electric-car-report-2023-11">yet</a>).While US carmakers are still figuring out how to please a wide variety of customers, Chinese brands have EVs in about every form imaginable. Want a $10,000 car? Try the BYD Seagull. Want a luxury SUV that can float in water? That's the <a target="_blank" href="https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/byd-yangwang-u8-suv-waterproof-boat-mode-1235029369/">BYD U8 Premium Edition</a>. Want something more luxurious? Chery, another Chinese carmaker, launched a sexy EV sports car with scissor doors called the iCar, which costs between $21,800 and $58,000. China's ability to expand its suite of offerings comes down to cost. Of course, the US has higher labor costs, but China has also taken great pains to own the EV supply chain. Legacy carmakers are still searching around the world to source the raw materials and parts they need, a project the Chinese government has been working on for over a decade. In fact, many of these companies are selling their products to American firms: Tesla buys batteries <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/08/tech/byd-tesla-ev-batteries-intl-hnk/index.html">from BYD</a>, for example. That doesn't mean Chinese car companies aren't facing challenges. While the US's strategy (or lack thereof) has left us without enough chargers or the right kind of inventory, China has the opposite problem. It has too many EVs, too many EV makers, and a flagging domestic economy. China EV Inc. needs to expand to new markets. The future of the auto industry hangs on whether it can start to do that before the rest of the world can catch up.The year Musk tittered at the idea of Chinese EVs overtaking Tesla, the country produced only <a target="_blank" href="https://macropolo.org/analysis/china-electric-vehicle-ev-industry/#:~:text=In%20December%202019%2C%20the%20Chinese,overall%20vehicle%20sales%20by%202025">5,000 electric cars</a>. But Beijing's plan to dominate the global EV space was already well underway. The Chinese Communist Party started out by setting the goal of having EVs make up 25% of all cars sold in China by 2025 and showered money on companies with <a target="_blank" href="https://theicct.org/subsidy-fraud-leads-to-reforms-for-chinas-ev-market/">anything even resembling a plan</a> to contribute to that goal. At the same time, the government set about marshaling all the raw materials Chinese companies would need for EV batteries and drivetrains, creating a domestic ecosystem for suppliers. In this way, its industrial policy for EVs copied past plans to dominate <a target="_blank" href="https://gmk.center/en/posts/chinas-overcapacity-problem-returns/#:~:text=Throughout%20most%20of%202023%2C%20Chinese,excess%20steelmaking%20capacity%20in%20China.">steel</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://prosperousamerica.org/is-china-overproducing-solar-again-iea-report-says-yes/#:~:text=China%20accounts%20for%20almost%2090,energy%20forecast%20report%20this%20month.">solar panels</a> — flood the market with supply until Chinese manufacturers were the only game in town.But in 2016, the CCP changed course. The grant money for EV research and development petered out, and the government announced that by 2027, it would phase out subsidies that lowered the price of electric cars for consumers. Beijing also instituted policies that opened the door for foreign carmakers to invest more in China's domestic industry and move manufacturing there. The result was pure carnage for China's domestic EV industry. Companies that depended on Beijing for subsidies <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/10/wm-motors-bankruptcy-highlights-challenges-faced-by-ev-startups-in-china/">began to implode</a>, and small players got pushed out of the market. But the chaos ended up strengthening the country's auto sector, ensuring that the most competitive carmakers gained market share. What emerged started to look more like a more mature industry — one with the capacity to manufacture world-class products. Last year, China became the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-vehicle-sales-rise-further-boosted-by-stimulus-policies-sales-promotions-3452cca1">world's largest auto exporter</a>.<div type="image" title="Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a toast after delivering his speech at a dinner marking the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People on September 28, 2023 in Beijing, China." height="3333" width="5000" msid="107986484" hostid="261"></div>None of this means the road ahead is any easier for the victors of Beijing's EV wars. Chinese automakers now have to deal with slower domestic demand as the Chinese economy enters a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-shrinking-xi-jinping-debt-real-estate-american-world-2024-1">protracted phase of slower growth</a>. At the same time, they know that their growth and success are central to the vision of China's technological landscape that its leader, Xi Jinping, has. Slowing down is not an option. The sector is expected to add <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/china-electric-vehicle-demand-slowing-b4e78636">capacity for 5 million more cars</a> (most of them EVs) by 2025. Domestic sales are projected to reach only 3.7 million in that same period. Sales for standout startups such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3250622/chinese-ev-builders-li-auto-xpeng-and-nio-get-2024-slow-start-sharp-drop-january-sales">Nio, Li Auto, and XPeng</a> are already coming in lower than expected. BYD alone has built enough capacity to manufacture 4 million cars in China. In 2023, it sold <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+cars+did+byd+sell+in+2023&amp;rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1082US1094&amp;oq=how+many+cars+did+BYD+s&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOTIHCAIQABiABDINCAMQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAQQABiGAxiABBiKBagCALACAA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">3 million</a> cars total.All these cars need somewhere to go, and for China EV Inc., the more profitable option is to move them west — first to Europe, where trade barriers are easier to overcome (for now), and eventually to the US. That is why brands such as BYD, Chery, and SAIC are all in discussions with the Mexican government to expand operations there. They need a toehold in North America to even begin conquering the US market. In the meantime, the US government is trying to spend an EV-parts ecosystem into existence, in part by handing out <a target="_blank" href="https://ir.novonixgroup.com/news-releases/news-release-details/novonix-finalizes-us100-million-grant-award-us-department-energy">grants</a> from the Energy Department to domestic companies working on battery technologies.No country wants to lose its automotive sector, so in Brussels and Washington, the rise of China's national champions has become a thorny topic between international-trade interlocutors. In public forums, Chinese trade apparatchiks have talked a good game <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/608c4b00-8efb-4322-9318-f6249096e3fe">about culling excess capacity</a> to assuage the fears of their counterparts. But at the same time, Beijing has put out an 18-point plan to counter trade restrictions and <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/redirect/3773ebf0-ac03-4983-8afd-9613e3ad9cbb?j=eyJ1IjoicDBuIn0.8PdnrzqVrhaSNasEauWg-AT6mGSX3AX-3rO2hxEVAZ8">push Chinese EVs out to the world</a>. None of this is really up for negotiation.To dominate the global market, Chinese automakers have to find ways to slip around the various barriers Western nations have put up. To crack Europe, BYD has announced plans to <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/chinas-byd-building-electric-vehicle-plant-hungary-4c4754f43703d061e1dc02516be0c14a">build a factory</a> in Hungary. Cracking the US is more complex. It has more trade barrier protection from a China Auto Inc. onslaught, but it may not work forever.Take, for instance, America's taxes on Chinese EV imports. The Trump administration smacked a 25% tariff on Chinese EVs, bringing the total levy for their entrance to the US up to 27.5%. To avoid the tariffs, brands like BYD, Chery, and SAIC are all in discussions with the Mexican government to expand operations there."Most likely, the way Chinese companies would be able to participate in the US EV market would be by investing in the Mexican auto-parts sector," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/mary-e-lovely">Mary Lovely</a>, an economist and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, told me.Parts that come from Mexico would be considered North American-made and subjected to lighter restrictions under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. EVs fully built in China would also not be eligible for a $7,500 tax rebate for consumers created under President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. They would be eligible, though, if they were built in Mexico and met specific battery-sourcing requirements. For some stakeholders, the barriers aren't high enough. US consumers have shown that if the price is low enough, "Made in America" takes a backseat. That's why the United Auto Workers union is already so worried about Chinese cars that <a target="_blank" href="https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/11.7.2023-letter-to-ambassador-tai-auto-301.pdf">it has asked</a> the White House to raise tariffs even more. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/biden-administration-explores-raising-tariffs-on-chinese-evs-e439d87d">Biden administration</a> has said it's seriously <a target="_blank" href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=0000018d-1903-dc2e-a3ad-79c31af10004">considering such a move</a>.This auto industry has become caught up in the existential question that is bedeviling societies all over the world — is globalization worth it? In this case: What do we care about more, preserving the auto industry or giving consumers a variety of cheap EVs to choose from?"We want to maintain an auto industry in the US — that's essential for jobs, national security, and for other sectors of the economy," Lovely said. "But then the question is how much protection do you need, recognizing that it's not a free lunch. This is why people don't like economists. We keep reminding people none of this is free."There is no telling how this will all shake out. Sure, Chinese EV makers are lean and mean, but they've never had to deal with international markets before. Beijing is used to dealing with foreign brands entering its market, not the other way around. For most of China's rise, it has operated in a cooperative world. Now it's operating in a world where its most important trading partners no longer trust Beijing. EVs collect so much data that policymakers have started to frame this debate as one not just about trade but also about national security. That's a harder debate for China to win.In the US, the race to counter China by building a cheaper EV is on. Tesla could pull ahead if delivers on its promise to get its $25,000 car out by 2025. But the company has a history of delayed product launches, an ongoing price war impairing cash flow, and an erratic, X-distracted CEO to deal with. Big Auto is contending with a more muscular United Auto Workers, more skittish shareholders, and management that has done nothing but fall behind. That said, America's legacy automakers have experience fighting for their survival and winning. Whatever happens, what is guaranteed is a transformation of the auto industry.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez">Linette Lopez</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

Elon Musk relied on China to fuel Tesla's rise. Now Beijing is turning on him.

In recent years, the relationship between the US and China — the world's economic superpowers — has devolved into an unwieldy tug-of-war between economic interdependence and deep-seated distrust. On one hand, diplomats are trying furiously to maintain a stable world and keep money flowing between the two countries. But at the same time, one of the relationship's most salient features is that it is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jiinping-future-tech-global-economy-semiconductors-military-failing-2022-9">contest for control over the technology</a> that will define the 21st century. In the latter battle there is one area where the US has fallen woefully behind: batteries. China's state-supported enterprises — let's call them China Inc. — dominate in every aspect of the development of batteries for electric vehicles, from the mining and refining of raw materials to the manufacture of the batteries themselves."The danger is that we won't have a domestic battery sector and we will totally in perpetuity rely on China to build cells for us," Tu Le, the founder of the consultancy Sino Auto Insights, told me. And without cheap batteries to power fleets of cheap electric vehicles, he argued, companies like GM and Ford "run the risk of becoming regional players and losing their international status."Until US automakers can source batteries domestically, or from friendly nations, they will depend on maintaining good relations with Beijing. It is an increasingly fraught partnership, even setting geopolitics aside. For the past 40 years China needed foreign automakers to help develop its own car industry through joint ventures. But as China's domestic electric-vehicle market takes off, the tables have turned. Beijing is boosting its homegrown products, and foreign automakers — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/stellantis-chinas-gac-joint-venture-file-bankruptcy-2022-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which already need China Inc.'s batteries</a> to build more EVs — are losing market share.The winner of the battery war will not only control the electric-vehicle market but also produce thousands of jobs, control the future of mobility, and dictate the West's ability to transition to greener forms of energy.<h2>Beijing's battery plan</h2>China has been working to dominate the battery space since at least 2015, when the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party <a href="https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/national-13th-five-year-plan-for-the-development-of-strategic-emerging-industries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crafted</a> the National Key Research and Development Program New Energy Vehicle Key Special Implementation Plan. Despite its long, formal-sounding name, the document sets out a clear goal: to corner the market for key materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel; invest in their extraction; and build factories for battery manufacturing. The plan starts at the most basic level of battery production: <a href="https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/the-key-minerals-in-an-ev-battery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raw materials</a> like cobalt, lithium, manganese, and nickel. Most of these minerals lie outside China — in countries such as Chile, Australia, Bolivia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But China Inc. has negotiated ownership stakes and partnerships with mines all over the world. From 2018 to the first half of 2021, China Inc. invested about $4.3 billion in lithium mines internationally, according to the research firm S&amp;P Capital IQ. And once these minerals are pulled out of the ground, they are shipped to Chinese-owned refineries that transform the metals for use in the final product. By 2019, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/silicon-valley-technology_how-china-dominates-global-battery-supply-chain/6195257.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese companies</a> made up 80% of the world's output for battery materials. This would not have been possible without Beijing's willingness to pay whatever price and withstand whatever losses it took to build the industry."At the end of the day even if DC or Brussels or Tokyo manages to support competing suppliers of minerals and companies that can turn minerals and metals into components, the mineral commodity markets are hard to predict," Jane Nakano, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told me. "It's very difficult for private-sector non-state-supported entities to plan ahead."In the past, this is where the Chinese value chain would end. The refined materials would get shipped out to the US or Europe where they would then be transformed into batteries. Not anymore: Beijing is trying to do that work in-house."In the 1970s and '80s China was exporting minerals to us to make higher-value goods," Nakano explained. "That's precisely the situation the Chinese wanted to get out of. That's why they came up with their tech strategy."Nowadays when Beijing wants to develop technology, it sprays money at any companies that want to give it a shot and watches them duke it out until a few come out on top. Once the dominant parties have revealed themselves, everyone else is cut off and left to wither. The undisputed champion of the Chinese battery-manufacturing battle is Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited. The company, first called Amperex Technology Limited, was founded in Hong Kong in 1999. Using patented technology licensed from the US's Bell Labs it became a battery supplier for companies including Apple and Samsung. But by 2008 it wanted to manufacture in China for easier access to its market and to take advantage of government incentives. To do that, though, it had to move its headquarters from Hong Kong, which was (and technically still is) politically separate from Beijing. Eventually the company set up shop in a county in northeastern China that was once governed by a young Communist Party secretary named Xi Jinping. And so ATL became CATL. By 2022 it controlled <a href="https://technode.com/2022/02/08/catl-the-biggest-ev-battery-maker-in-the-world-in-2021-with-32-6-of-market-share/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 32%</a> of the world's market share for electric-vehicle batteries, and <a href="https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20230328PD205/battery-catl-china-ev-battery.html&amp;chid=10#:~:text=Among%20them%2C%20battery%20maker%20CATL,Auto%2C%20Geely%2C%20and%20Nio." target="_blank" rel="noopener">about half</a> of China's domestic market. As of now, CATL has 13 factories worldwide that supply batteries for Tesla, Toyota, and Daimler. Earlier this month, Ford announced plans to build a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/business/energy-environment/ford-catl-electric-vehicle-battery.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with technology</a> licensed from CATL.Coming in a not-so-close second is China's BYD. Within China, it's <a href="https://carnewschina.com/2023/04/12/top-selling-cars-in-q1-2023-byd-first/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a top-selling car company</a> that makes its own batteries. Thanks to that inherent demand, it has taken just over 13% of global market share for EV batteries. And thanks to its ownership of its battery supply chain, it's able to make cars cheaply. Its <a href="https://carnewschina.com/2022/03/23/top-10-best-selling-electric-vehicles-in-china-in-february-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BYD Song Plus</a> — the <a href="https://carnewschina.com/2023/04/12/top-selling-cars-in-q1-2023-byd-first/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best-selling car</a> in China in the first quarter of this year — comes in both electric and combustion-engine versions and sells for under $30,000.<h2>Role reversal</h2>As Chinese companies have started to dominate the battery space, the US is trying to avoid a role reversal of past decades in which it would depend on China for higher-value batteries. To prevent this outcome, the US needs to start investing in every part of the value chain for batteries. And it starts with the country's <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/us-has-huge-lithium-reserves-but-concerns-mount-over-mining/a-64103024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vast resources</a> of "<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvjned/lithium-mining-nevada-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">white gold</a>," the name for lithium used among those who believe its large deposits can be exploited to create the country's next great source of energy. As of now, the US has only one open lithium mine in Nevada. Lithium extraction and refining are messy, and environmental concerns have kept US output limited to about 1% of the world's supply."We really haven't gotten our heads in the game in terms of resource extraction," Nakano said.To boost this output, companies are rushing to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-lithium-industry-develops-for-electric-vehicle-battery-needs-60-minutes-2023-05-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extract lithium deposits</a> from California's Salton Sea, a dry region east of San Diego. Geologists estimate that the region could supply enough lithium to support the manufacturing of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-lithium-industry-develops-for-electric-vehicle-battery-needs-60-minutes-2023-05-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7.5 million</a> car batteries a year. US companies like BHE Renewables, backed by Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and EnergySource Minerals are looking to advance technology that will extract lithium using clean energy and while doing as little environmental damage as possible. President Joe Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act legislation set aside $200 million, through the Department of Defense, to establish an end-to-end American supply chain of rare-earth metals, like lithium and nickel, that can be used in domestic battery efforts.America is also lacking capacity further down the manufacturing chain. The US is home to only <a href="https://www.dallasfed.org/~/media/Images/research/swe/2023/2302/swe2302c1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two processing plants</a> that produce <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201124-how-geothermal-lithium-could-revolutionise-green-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lithium hydroxide</a>, a more lightweight, concentrated version of the metal used for batteries. This month, Tesla broke ground on a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-plans-produce-lithium-1-mln-vehicles-texas-refinery-elon-musk-2023-05-08/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">third facility</a> in Texas. The Inflation Reduction Act set a goal of refining enough lithium domestically to supply 2 million electric vehicles annually. The Biden administration hopes to accomplish this in two ways — one carrot and one stick. To try to lure companies, the law provides subsidies for companies that invest in that refining process, but it also <a href="https://www.dallasfed.org/research/swe/2023/swe2302" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sets stringent requirements</a> for how much of an EV battery's components must be sourced in the US — or from countries with which we have free-trade agreements — to be considered domestically produced and avoid tariffs. But all of this planning and incentivizing this will take time to kick into gear. For example, EnergySource Minerals has said its mine could be operational by 2025.<h2>A time to squeeze</h2>While the US has a long way to go to catch up to China, there are some analysts who see Beijing's hand in the market as more clumsy than capitalist, and who say the CCP's ambitions will actually make it easier for American firms to catch up. Anne Stevenson-Yang, the research director of J Capital Research, predicted in a recent note to clients that Beijing's push to increase the supply of materials required for battery manufacturing will ultimately make it dramatically cheaper to enter the battery market over the next few years. Yang's research indicates the price of lithium carbonate — another critical chemical for batteries — has been sliced in half since November and will drop by another two-thirds this year."That is because of massive new Chinese capacity," she wrote. "If all goes as planned, lithium will be in global surplus as 2024 rolls around."We've seen this dynamic when China enters a market before. Beijing throws a staggering amount of cash at an industrial product or late-stage technology until there's so much domestic supply that a capacity glut ensues. China then dumps that excess capacity into foreign markets, depressing prices globally. Stevenson-Yang sees parts of China's battery supply chain as the next glut it will need to dump. "There are certain issues around security and having a manufacturing base in the US that makes sense, but we don't have to worry about the tech war," she said by phone. "China is like the Russian army in the 18th century. Everyone feared the 'Great Bear to the North,' but they eventually found out that size doesn't mean quality — size means size."But the potential of a battery supply glut tomorrow doesn't help carmakers meet their needs today. Until the US and its friends can offer them another supply of electric batteries, auto manufacturers all need China Inc., especially as they ramp up their EV ambitions. "We don't have a major player in the battery cell space, full stop. US battery makers will not likely be able to make a profitable battery until at least 2030," Sino Auto Insights' Le said. "The reality is GM and Ford can't build a $40,000 EV that will help their bottom line for the foreseeable future without BYD and CATL batteries."And then there's Tesla. Elon Musk has said the company's goal is to manufacture <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2021/02/28/will-tesla-hit-elons-20-million-vehicles-year-by-2030-target/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 million cars annually by 2030</a>. To put that in perspective, Toyota — the world's biggest carmaker — sold just over 10 million cars last year, while Tesla sold just over 1 million. If Musk wants to reach his goal, Tesla not only needs Chinese consumers to keep buying his cars, but he also needs China's cheap batteries and manufacturing infrastructure to make a car cheap enough to sell to markets like Latin America, Southeast Asia and India."Musk can continue to be very effusive of the Chinese government and their support of the EV sector in China," Le said. "But if the US-China relationship continues to deteriorate, it's inevitable that it's going to be much tougher for any US company to do business in China."And of course, Le pointed out, wherever Tesla goes in the world BYD will be there to compete on price. "The IRA will create opportunities in the mobility space," Le said of the Inflation Reduction Act. "But if we're looking at evolutionary improvements, China Battery Inc. will still dominate. If we're looking at revolutionary developments over the next five to seven years, though, they'll be over here in the US. Of course, this is in the backdrop of BYD and CATL continuing to lower prices on current tech making transitioning to new technology a tougher decision for OEMs."It's a complicated race, one of sometimes conflicting incentives and allegiances. The Inflation Reduction Act has upset the US's European allies while at the same time establishing protocols for cooperation to wrest the battery supply chain from China. US car manufacturers can't make cheap electric vehicles for the US market without China Inc., while at the same time the US government is creating policy to push back against China's ambition to dominate the EV market entirely, not just domestically. We cannot make clean energy without making a mess environmentally and geopolitically. For now China is winning the battery contest, but that doesn't mean the US or its allies should give in. There's always time to catch up in a race with no end.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez" rel="">Linette Lopez</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider.

The one crucial industry where China is crushing America in the Tech Cold War

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Chinese carmakers have a massive, domestic EV battery supply chain to lean on.</li><li>That's a huge advantage for those companies in the global market.</li></ul>The Chinese electric vehicle market is huge and growing — and that success has many wondering what's next.About 27% of new vehicle sales in China in 2022 were electrified (either pure EVs or hybrids), says advisory firm <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/GkDWELGrNi2fNgn68-1c3w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automobility</a>. And given the number of Chinese buyers, those <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicles-accounted-global-auto-sales-could-quadruple-2030-report-2023-1">sales</a> made up about two-thirds of the global EV market.Despite COVID lockdowns, other headwinds impacting consumer sentiment and the economy, and <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202301/1283120.shtml#:~:text=China%20started%20to%20phase%20out,4%2C800%20yuan%20per%20unit%2C%20respectively." target="_blank" rel="noopener">government EV subsidies phasing out</a>, it's an exciting time for the Chinese auto industry, bolstered by the country's long-standing and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-ford-gm-china-ev-battery-supply-chain-strategy-2022-5">inimitable EV supply chain</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-china-electric-vehicle-market-share-competitors-byd-wuling-gac-2022-7#tesla-is-one-of-the-biggest-electric-vehicle-manufacturers-in-china-but-the-company-accounts-for-only-a-small-fraction-of-the-countrys-massive-ev-industry-1">EV companies</a> like Geely, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-top-chinese-ev-startups-giving-tesla-a-run-for-its-money-2021-8">Xpeng, Li Auto, NIO</a>, and more are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/electric-car-sales-in-china-ruled-by-byd-great-wall-tesla?sref=LspfQlRv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gaining traction</a>. Their market share in China rose 17% in 2022, while that of non-Chinese automakers dropped 11%. (Firm BYD alone sold nearly 1.8 million battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in China last year — surpassing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teslas-electric-vehicle-struggles-china-europe-preview-elon-musk-usa-2022-12">Tesla's</a> 1.3 million worldwide.)Even if others catch up, China will continue to dominate global EV sales this year, according to GlobalData. So naturally, industry watchers think a move into the US could be imminent."What happens in China will not stay in China," said Bill Russo, CEO of advisory firm Automobility. "If you have that kind of supply chain, that kind of position on the chess board, then why wouldn't you take that internationally?" <h2>Chinese EV makers have advantages — but it's complicated</h2>Chinese automakers would have a number of advantages in the US, chief among them the relatively low cost of their cars compared to American makes. "There's a difference between people's allegiances to their country and what they buy at the store," Russo said. "One thing that's absolutely universal is people buy affordability."And after all, Japanese, Korean, and European automakers have had plenty of success in the US: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/business/toyota-car-sales-2021.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toyota was the country's top-selling brand</a> in 2021.On the other hand, the Inflation Reduction Act's EV tax credit rules mean that vehicles manufactured in China <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-tax-credit">won't qualify for the US-final assembly requirements that earn electric car buyers a $7,500 credit. </a>Political sentiment and having to battle entrenched companies in a mature market are also barriers."By far the biggest obstacle is politics," Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu told Insider. "You have a lot of anti-China sentiment.""If they can somehow overcome that, I think a lot of Chinese auto companies would love to get a crack at the market."BYD, for example, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinas-byd-takes-cautious-approach-us-global-ev-push-2023-01-18/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has a focus on global expansion</a>, but those sentiments and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-china-sales-discounts-incentives-demand-pain-period-analysts-warn-2023-1">recent developments with Tesla</a> have put those plans on pause. "They're very hesitant to expand because of this." <h2>China already has plenty of booming business</h2>Even if it doesn't dominate the US car-buying market, China can play a starring role by leaning on its control of so much of the global EV battery supply chain, including raw materials, processing, cell manufacturing, and more. China controlled about 75% of all battery cell manufacturing capacity and 90% of battery anode and electrolyte production in 2022, according to <a href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/chinas-battery-supply-chain-tops-bnef-ranking-for-third-consecutive-time-with-canada-a-close-second/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BloombergNEF</a>. As it stands, US automakers like GM and Tesla have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/china-finds-aplace-in-the-us-battery-belt/2023/01/08/fcb1652e-8fa8-11ed-90f8-53661ac5d9b9_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reliant on companies in China</a>, like giant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/business/china-catl-electric-car-batteries.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CATL</a>, for their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/25/battery-arms-race-how-china-has-monopolised-the-electric-vehicle-industry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">battery needs</a>. Even as the US shores up more minerals extraction here and the US battery-making industry grows, much of these materials are still sent to China for processing, and China is still expected to control a majority of the production capacity in 2027, per <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/chinas-dominance-in-battery-manufacturing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BloombergNEF</a>."The automotive industry, in the early part of the 21st century, has been dominated by foreign brands," Russo said. That has shifted, as "Electrification leveled the playing field."

How China can dominate the American EV market without selling a single car

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Bloomberg reported this week that Tesla would scale back production at its Shanghai factory.</li><li>Tesla is being outsold in both the Chinese and the European markets as competitors press in.</li></ul>What's Elon Musk to do when electric-vehicle makers start vying for Tesla's top spot in the US? That's a question investors will follow as Tesla faces steep competition in China's and Europe's EV markets. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-slides-production-cut-reports-shanghai-factory-musk-2022-12">Tesla planned to scale back production of its popular Model Y</a> car by 20% at its Shanghai factory, one of its largest sites. A Tesla representative said the report was "untrue." Regardless, UBS and Deutsche Bank analysts have said an output-cutting measure is a good move for Tesla, as the EV-car market in China shows signs of softness.Tesla's Shanghai factory sold 100,291 electric cars in November, setting a monthly record for the company and putting it on track to double the previous year's production of 484,130, <a href="https://english.news.cn/20221206/4c6f4451fd5e470aa44fe86712afd19d/c.html">Xinhua</a>, China's state news agency, reported. Reaching those numbers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-cuts-dec-model-y-output-shanghai-plant-by-over-20-versus-nov-sources-2022-12-05/">required cuts of up to 9% of the</a> Model 3 and Model Y sale prices, Reuters reported. But Tesla didn't sell the most electric vehicles to Chinese customers in November. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/byd-auto-car-china-tesla-rival-electric-sales-stock-2022-12">BYD, a Chinese automaker</a> and <a href="https://www.counterpointresearch.com/global-ev-sales-q3-2022/">global EV market leader backed</a> by Berkshire Hathaway, did, selling <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-sold-100291-china-made-vehicles-nov-xinhua-2022-12-05/">229,942 EVs</a>, or more than double what Tesla sold.To boost December sales and clear inventory, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3202423/tesla-offers-us859-discount-chinese-buyers-drum-sales-amid-slowing-economy">Tesla's China operations cut its prices again</a>, despite announcing on its WeChat page that it wouldn't offer discounts again in 2023.Patrick Hummel, the global head of autos at UBS, thinks more promotional sales will come. He wrote in a report Tuesday: "Further pricing action to stimulate more demand and or gain market share cannot be ruled out."Emmanuel Rosner, the lead auto and auto-technology analyst at Deutsche Bank, said in his report: "It makes sense for Tesla to be prudent on production as local demand is generally under pressure." Tesla's inventory woes seem to be a result of China's slowing economic growth. Continuous COVID-19 lockdowns and inflation are taking their toll on the pockets of Chinese consumers. The <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202212/t20221205_1890803.html">National Bureau of Statistics of China's purchasing managers index</a> for November dropped below 50% to 48%, indicating a recession. Rosner also wrote in his report that China's cash subsidy for EVs helped boost industry sales, but it will expire before the new year. If the government chooses not to extend the subsidy, that will additionally weaken demand for Tesla's Shanghai inventory.<h2>Strong competition in China and Europe</h2>Musk's auto company faces similar battles in Europe, the second-biggest EV market, behind China. An October Counterpoint report found that Tesla's second quarter sales fell over 50% from the year before. A significant factor was its pandemic-induced supply-chain issues in China.While Tesla opened a factory in Berlin to meet rising demand from European consumers, it just opened in March, and a significant portion of its inventory is imported from China. And while Tesla's Model Y was Europe's second-best-selling EV, it came in a distant second earlier this year to the Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat's Fiat 500e model.Globally, Tesla's Model Y led the market last quarter, making up 7.5% of EV sales, Counterpoint reported. Models from Volkswagen, BYD, and the joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling also made it into the top 10.<h2>Tesla leads the US — but for how long?</h2>That Tesla can have the world's most popular EV model, in the Model Y, and still lose in overall sales indicates a weakness in Tesla's relatively slim lineup, with just four models for sale. Competitors like Volkswagen, Ford, and General Motors all either offer or plan to offer a wider variety of vehicles at several price points and for various use cases, while Tesla's next addition to its lineup, the Cybertruck, has been delayed multiple times, and the Roadster is even further out.Competition is chipping away at Tesla's market share in the US, too. Tesla still dominates the country with a <a href="https://b2b.kbb.com/news/view/electrified-vehicle-sales-hit-record-in-q3-2022/">64% market share</a>. But that percentage was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/29/teslas-dominance-of-evs-is-eroding-as-cheaper-cars-hit-the-market.html#:~:text=The%20data%20firm%20found%20that,year%20and%2079%25%20in%202020.">71% in 2021 and 79% in 2020</a>. For now, traditional automakers like Ford and Chevrolet are gaining traction as more affordable alternatives to Tesla.<a href="https://www.spglobal.com/mobility/en/research-analysis/new-ev-entries-nibbling-away-at-tesla-ev-share.html">S&amp;P Global Mobility</a> predicts Tesla's market share will drop to 20% by 2025. Stephanie Brinley, an associate director of S&amp;P Global Mobility's AutoIntelligence, said in a statement that Tesla's brand and unit sales would continue to thrive, while competitors were "bound by production capacity."Chinese EVs won't, for the moment, be a major part of the US market. Hummel said the US's Inflation Reduction Act, which includes tax credits for locally made EVs and discriminates against EVs with parts from a foreign entity of concern, "put some soft roadblocks for Chinese players." BYD <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-07/byd-mulls-us-battery-plant-refrains-from-selling-evs-post-ira?leadSource=uverify%20wall">told Bloomberg</a> it was considering establishing a battery plant in the US but wouldn't sell any cars because of the legislation.Like the rest of the world, the US is facing a recession. Between high inflation and the possibility of job cuts and shrinking buying power, a new car may be a stretch for many consumers.To be clear, Tesla will continue to sell many electric cars in the US — it's just that many other automakers will too. And in the US, Tesla has enjoyed a long period with almost no competition.China and Europe show how Tesla will be forced to compete on pricing, features, and build quality to win over American customers. The next five years for Tesla will likely be much harder fought than its previous five years.

Tesla's struggles in China and Europe may be a preview of the pain coming for Elon in the US

REUTERS/Rodrigo GarridoLA recently ordered 130 buses from Chinese company BYD. It's the largest order of electric buses in the US.<ul class="summary-list"><li>In November, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) ordered 130 electric buses from the Chinese company BYD. It's believed to be the largest order of e-buses in US history. </li><li>The buses are part of the LADOT's plan to make its entire fleet electric by 2030, with a total of about 511 e-buses. </li><li>Business Insider talked with the transportation department's chief of transit, Corinne Ralph, about what it will take to transition the fleet, which services the second-largest city in the US - in just 10 years. </li><li>She said the two biggest challenges are power and cost. Utilities will have to meet a huge surge in demand, and the price for buses and the infrastructure to support them amounts to tens of millions of dollars. </li><li>Do you have a tip or story idea about the business of energy? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:bjones@businessinsider.com">bjones@businessinsider.com</a> or through the encrypted messenger app Signal at 646-768-1657. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime articles</a>.</li></ul>Los Angeles is best known for beautiful celebrities, sandy beaches and, of course, traffic. So it might come as a surprise that in just 10 years, a portion of the city's entire public transportation fleet - buses that service downtown LA and 27 neighborhoods - will be 100% electric. The city has just four electric buses today. By 2030, it's planning to have about 511, officials said. That set the stage for a historic purchase the city made last month: The transportation department ordered 130 e-buses from the Chinese company BYD, which is considered the largest sale of electric buses in the nation's history. Affording those buses is just one challenge that Corrine Ralph, LA's chief of transit programs, faces in this transition. In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, she explains what it will take for a city of roughly 4 million to go all-electric. "Buses play a major role [in greenhouse gas emissions], partly because we are on the streets for much longer," Ralph said, signaling that electric buses are an essential part of the city's zero-emissions strategy. "It's no longer a choice. This is going to be something that we all have to do." LA DOTThe battery of an electric bus<h2>What it costs to reach zero emissions </h2>Buses are not cheap. And electric buses are as expensive as they come. The 130 e-buses that the city of Los Angeles bought are roughly $650,000 each, Ralph says - or about $175,000 to $225,000 more expensive than the gas-powered buses in the city's fleet. Multiply that by 511 and you're staring at more than a third of a billion dollars. That price tag doesn't take into consideration the cost of training or the charging infrastructure. For LA County, infrastructure could cost up to $1 billion, according to notes from a <a href="https://boardagendas.metro.net/event/operations-safety-and-customer-experience-d46fc444cf85/">2019 committee meeting</a>. "Agencies do not anticipate the amount of dollars it's going to take for you to install the necessary infrastructure," Ralph said. "I think the costs of the buses and the cost of infrastructure hours I need are the two biggest challenges that we have."Ralph says the sheer cost of electrifying public transit has generated "a certain amount of concern in terms of the dollar figures." No doubt, other cities, especially those with much smaller budgets, will have trouble footing the bill. "A lot of agencies are not able to find that additional funding to be able to do that," she said.But here's the thing: Electric buses have been shown to save money in the long-run.Transit officials in Chicago, for example, say that just two e-buses save the city <a href="https://www.transitchicago.com/cta-expands-electric-bus-fleet/">$24,000 in fuel costs</a> and $30,000 in maintenance costs each year, not to mention the benefits linked to improved air quality. Cities can apply for federal and state grants to help cover the costs. In 2019, the Federal Transit Administration announced that it awarded nearly $85 million in grants through its Low or No Emissions Grant program. "We have been budgeting and going after grants aggressively in order to be able to bind down the cost, at least of the buses," Ralph said. Aggressive is right. In 2018, LADOT <a href="https://ladot.lacity.org/sites/g/files/wph266/f/Press%20Release%20Transit%20Awarded%20%2436.1%20Million%20Toward%20Purchase%20of%20Electric%20Buses.pdf">received a grant</a> from the California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, a government grantmaking agency, to purchase 112 e-buses. LA DOTAn electric bus operated by LA DOT outside of Griffith Observatory in LA<h2>The next challenge: Power. What happens when you plug in hundreds of buses? </h2>The 130 electric buses will start to arrive in early 2021, Ralph says. And one of her big concerns, leading up to that day, is how the city will provide enough electricity to charge them. Each BYD bus has a battery capacity of 215 kWh, which is roughly equivalent to the daily power consumption of <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&amp;t=3">7 American households</a>. "The power need is a fairly significant challenge to overcome," she said. "There is a lot of demand that's going to be required of the utilities. It's a lot of pressure on their own equipment as well." Utilities might need to put more power on the grid, she says, not to mention new infrastructure to support the buses. But there's a simple way to confront the challenge of demand: talk to the utility in the months or even years leading up to the transition. She, for one, attends weekly meetings, where the city and its utility, the Department of Water and Power, discuss how much power they'll need, and when. There are also a few ways to reduce demand, Ralph says. Public buses can charge in the middle of the night, for example, when there's less stress on the grid and the cost of electricity is cheaper. "The fact that we're operating during off-peak where there's no demand really puts a handle around our costs," she said.And what about onsite storage? Or the ability to plug buses back into the grid when power usage is peaking? Ralph says the city's transportation department is currently looking into it, but there are no concrete plans yet. <h2>LA's e-bus purchase is impressive. Until you look at what China is doing. </h2>There were nearly 425,000 electric buses globally <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-15/in-shift-to-electric-bus-it-s-china-ahead-of-u-s-421-000-to-300">at the end of 2018</a>. And 99% of them were in China. In fact, some cities in China have more e-buses than the entire US. The southeastern Chinese city of Shenzen with its 12 million people, makes Los Angeles, with its roughly 4 million people, look like a quaint college town. Shenzen's public bus fleet - consisting of a staggering 16,359 buses - is <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/04/how-did-shenzhen-china-build-world-s-largest-electric-bus-fleet">100% electric</a>. But that's not to say that introducing 130 new electric buses in LA won't make a difference.According to the LADOT, the addition will offset the city's carbon footprint by 233,450 metric tons over 12 years, which is equivalent to taking more than 4,000 gas cars off the road over the same period. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-retail?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=transportation&amp;itm_campaign=future-of-retail-2"></a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/million-mile-battery-tesla-miles-lifetime-2019-11">Here's how the million-mile battery could lead to Teslas lasting a lifetime</a></h3>

LA purchased 130 electric buses - the largest order in the US. The city's chief of transit reveals the challenges ahead in electrifying the country's 2nd-largest city.

You Searched For "BYD eMax 7 battery capacity" and got 9 results

BYD eMax 7 electric MPV launched in India starting at ₹26.9 lakh

Sourabh Jain

Raptee.HV launches T30, an electric bike that can be charged using car chargers

Sourabh Jain

Volkswagen stumbles in China as Germany's auto giants struggle to compete in the EV race

Tom Carter

EV sales in Europe hit a speed bump — and the US should be worried too

Tom Carter

Elon Musk relied on China to fuel Tesla's rise. Now Beijing is turning on him.

Linette Lopez

The one crucial industry where China is crushing America in the Tech Cold War

Linette Lopez

How China can dominate the American EV market without selling a single car

Alexa St. John

Tesla's struggles in China and Europe may be a preview of the pain coming for Elon in the US

Asia Martin

LA purchased 130 electric buses - the largest order in the US. The city's chief of transit reveals the challenges ahead in electrifying the country's 2nd-largest city.

Benji Jones,Benji Jones

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides