On July 5, 2022, workers at a plant of BYD, China's leading NEV manufacturer, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, assemble a vehicle on the production line. YUAN JINGZHI BEIJING - A container train loaded with 93 new-energy vehicles NEV pulled into the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in east China's Zhejiang province on Thursday. The assembly of a number of 402 NEVs to be sent via container ship to Europe marked the launch of a new time-saving passage for China's NEV exports.
The new railway-sea export route is an upgrade on the roll-on roll-off ships that are often used for China's NEV exports, and is intended to improve efficiency and to further stabilize the supply chain.
China's exports of NEVs rose 96.7 percent to 499,000 units in the first 10 months of 2022, attesting to the industry's robust growth this year, which has been buoyed by supply chain resilience and supportive policies.
NEV exports have become a new driver of foreign-trade growth because China is playing an increasingly critical role in the global NEV industry chain, said Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.
In the first three quarters of the year, the country's NEV sales accounted for 62.9 percent of the global total, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers CAAM.
Europe has been one of the biggest buyers of Chinese NEVs in recent years due to its push for low-carbon goals. The European Parliament and Council agreed in late October that all new cars and vans registered in Europe would be emissions-free by 2035. 34 percent of China's passenger NEV exports were shipped to Western Europe in the first half of 2022, according to official data.
Shi Jianhua, the deputy secretary general of the CAAM, said that the popularity of Chinese NEVs in the European market and beyond is due to China's solid foundation in power battery production and assembly.
In the first three quarters of 2022, 341.3 GWh of battery power was installed in electric vehicles worldwide, up 75.2 percent year on year, according to market research firm SNE Research. The Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. ranked first worldwide with 119.8 GWh, while BYD came in third with 43.6 GWh.
Shi said that the appeal to foreign consumers is added by a complete domestic NEV industry chain and leading intelligent vehicle technologies.
China has around 11,000 firms in the business of smart connected vehicles, of which 260 were founded in the first 10 months of this year, according to industry data. There are regulations to test these vehicles and foster their prevalence in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the country has put in place an early warning system for low inventory of auto parts and closely monitored the supply and demand dynamics of 19 major commodities in order to keep the supply chain stable.
The output of NEVs in the country reached 762,000 units last month, up 87.6 percent year on year, industry data shows.
Many domestic NEV brands are making a name for themselves in foreign markets, including the ones with historical strengths in the auto industry. After debuting three new models in Japan, BYD teamed up with a German car-rental company to enter the country's rental market.