Why China is winning the EV war

And what it means for US climate goals.

The Biden administration set a climate goal that 50 percent of all new car sales in the US would be electric by 2030. Meanwhile, China reached that milestone this year, in 2024. This video explains how China was able to fast-track EV adoption and develop an EV battery that rivals what any other country has been able to do so far. It’s been a decade of government strategies that have created some of the biggest battery companies in the world, like CATL and BYD.

The Biden administration wants to keep Chinese cars and batteries out of the country — but our video explains what kind of position that puts the US in in terms of meeting its own climate goals.

Sources and further reading:

[bubu]

When the U.S. is less competitive than its rivals, "free trade" becomes "national security."😂

[johnkesich]

How many billions in subsidies does the US give fossil fuels?

[andy_incady]

The Chinese subsidies sound no different than American subsidies.. tax breaks for companies, consumer incentives.. but when China does it, we call it "unfair competition."

[philip]

A simple conclusion: Chinese government did its job while western gov didnot.

[aiman]

Its not free trade when the US is losing, got it.

[TheAmericanAmerican]

A fan of the Chinese govenment I am not, but I do find it hilarious when Americans screech about the CCP subsidizing their industries as if the US Government has NOT bailed out MULTIPLE US industries MULITPLE times! Guys, it's the USA! We have "socialism" for the rich and rugged capitalism for the poor! 🤣

[Emilywright]

A decade ago whenever a western leader met the Chinese leader the first thing to say about is the climate change and energy conservation but after China’s dominance on sustainable energy and EV cars the topic seems to loose attention

[itsederrengifo]

So let me get this straight: A decade ago China saw that EV were the future which wasn't hard to predict considering oil is a limited resource, and there was an increasing pressure in reducing global emissions, so then they worked to have more control over raw materials and introduced measures to boost their own EV industry making it way more competitive, and now US is mad because they didn't do anything to address a problem China identified many years ago?? The sad part is that US consumers are blocked from buying cheaper EV cars, and instead they are stuck with less competitive brands, paying more money and still polluting the environment. I start to think the real problem here is US government incompetence and short-sight mindset.

[dodoboy]

American auto makers want you to keep paying $60K for a car.

[TsLeng]

Can't win? Blame subsidies, human rights blablabla😂

Muricans cope so hard

[sirkeg]

One of the first days in school after moving to the US, I raised my hand to answer the teacher's question. After answering, the kid next to me said, "I would've known that too but not everyone studies as much as you. Don't think you're so smart" This reminds me of that for some reason.

[ashvio]

So it's bad when China subsidizes green energy programs but good when the US does it and also for fossil fuels?

[syncout]

Calling China's support for their EV industry as "unfair global competition" is like when someone who joins a marathon but chooses to walk instead of run, and then calling the winners "unfair"

[bladervn]

I like how they just HAD to bring up "human rights issues" at the end of the video.

[dude-fkrn]

Only western media would frame “governement support” as bad. As if government was not supposed to do that. Maybe in the US.

[jackietreehorn]

The US has given billions to the car industry for EV car production and the car companies spent that money on stock buybacks. In the US, it's all about propping up the stock price and rewarding investors.

[diogotxx]

Funny, I don't remember people complaining about human rights when Steve Jobs and others decided to move to China back then. I remember the use of the words globalization, free trade, etc. Now that China is ahead with better and cheaper products, they're to blame.

[fajarcahyono]

China is Capitalism for the rich and Socialism for the poor, US is Socialism for the rich abd Ruthless Capitalism for the poor. That's the difference

[lalalalalalala]

I’m not being accusing or aggressive, and not commenting on this video. But I just don’t like that everything is called a war or a race. Arm race, space race, EV war, trade war. I’m a Chinese. In western media I saw a lot of things like China’s space race or something like that. It feels like I’m living in 20th century. I don’t want to comment about the USSR. But China is not having any race or war with any other country. Our development and utilization of the space and the moon is based on our own plan with our own pace (instead of wanting to win or go ahead of anyone). The development of EV market in China is not only for the environment but to decrease the dependency on fossil fuels. Everything we are doing are being portrayed as very aggressive actions. We don’t want rivals. We want cooperation. Even though every nation has its own interests, there has to be some fields where cooperations could happen, like the environment or the space.

[zollen]

What has US been doing in the past 50 years? Are they serious about clean energy and global warming? Is US serious about EV at all?