Thread by @Telegraph

🇨🇳China has pushed ahead with manufacturing electric vehicles and dominates the global market – but can it last forever?

@sophia_yan visited China's electric car capital, Liuzhou, where rush hour is almost silent

Thread ~👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

📈About one third of the cars sold in China’s Liuzhou are electric, a figure that’s only growing.

That’s more than five times the rest of China, making Liuzhou a leader in the world’s largest EV market
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

This is the product of a long campaign by the Chinese state.

⛽️China has pushed new energy vehicles to cut pollution and traffic.

Beijing wants to dominate industry globally as countries implement targets to phase out diesel and petrol vehicles
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Residents have welcomed the environmental benefits in the city once dominated by the polluting steel and chemical industries.

“The air is definitely so much cleaner,” said Wei Haiyun, a driver who bought an EV - they now saves about 4,000 yuan (£450) a month on petrol

EVs do “offer an opportunity to substantially lower emissions” said Anders Hammer Strømman, professor at Norwegian University of Science and Tech.

'But there are two important caveats... we need both the production and operation to be done in as green a manner as possible'

⚡️One of the biggest challenges with electric vehicles is how they’re powered, said Barbara Finamore, visiting research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

“The largest component of the carbon footprint of an EV is the battery production”
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Most electricity in China still comes from coal-fired power plants - so EVs are charged by a heavily-polluting source.

EVs in Poland and Kosovo generate more carbon emissions than petrol or diesel models - a substantial amount of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels

Meanwhile in Norway, which has the most EVs per capita, most electricity comes from hydropower.

In the UK, gas accounts for roughly 36% of electricity generation, followed by wind and solar at 28%
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🚍In September, London mayor Sadiq Khan announced all new city buses will be zero-emissions.

600 vehicles are on the road with a further 350 ordered.

Switching to battery-powered buses is expected to help the Government reach its net-zero target by 2050
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❓It's still unclear whether Chinese firms with first-mover advantage will be able to maintain momentum.

“Foreign countries might not want to buy Chinese-made electric vehicles if that’s going to compromise their data privacy,” said Finamore
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🌏Europe and the US are moving “to make sure the supply chain is not reliant on everything coming from Asia,” said Sandy Fitzpatrick, VP at Canalys.

Succeeding in “western Europe is going to be much more difficult for Chinese brands” said Bill Russo, CEO of Automobility

🚗In the first half of this year, 2.55 million electric vehicles were sold around the world.

China accounted for 47%
Europe 40%
US 3%

Read more on China's electric car boom👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…