Western firms are quaking as China’s electric-car industry speeds up

IT TAKES THE ET5, an electric saloon from NIO, a Chinese carmaker founded in 2014, a mere four seconds to accelerate from a standstill to 100kph. That is more or less the same as the Porsche Carrera, a German petrol-powered sportscar beloved by adrenalin junkies. Chinese electric vehicles (evs) are setting new standards for speed—in terms both of how fast they go and of how fast they are spreading around the globe. Already China’s streets are clogged with them. And if Chinese manufacturers have their way, America’s and Europe’s soon will be, too. An industry used to a sedate cycle of marginal improvements is being upended at “China speed”, says Ralf Brandstätter, Volkswagen’s boss in the country.

In 2023, Chinese industry groups claim, China overtook Japan to become the world’s biggest exporter of cars, in part because of surging sales of EVs. In the final quarter of 2023, BYD, a Chinese firm, surpassed Tesla as the world’s biggest manufacturer of purely battery-powered vehicles, selling 526,000 of them to the American firm’s 484,000. As the shift away from the internal-combustion engine (ice) gathers pace, established carmakers are beginning to worry that Chinese upstarts might run them off the road.