Does anyone know if China is subsidizing EVs in its internal market? China seems to be huge on EVs. Just wondering if that’s real demand or a market distorted by government fiat. If the latter, then I wonder if there’s a bubble forming and a crash coming.
RE: Does anyone know if China is subsidizing EVs in its internal market?
For BYD? ABSOLUTELY. BYD is one of the largest recipients of China’s EV subsidies.
🔹 Direct subsidies: $3.7 billion. See here:
https://electrek.co/2024/04/12/china-gave-byd-an-incredible-3-7-billion-to-win-the-ev-race/
The Kiel Institute study shows:
• BYD received €220 million in 2020
• Rising to €2.1 billion in 2022
• Subsidies increased from 1.1% of revenue to 3.5% over that period
This makes BYD the single largest beneficiary of China’s EV subsidy program.
China continues to offer trade‑in subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include BYD’s EVs and hybrids.
Consumers can receive:
• 12% rebate (up to RMB 20,000) for buying a new NEV
This program disproportionately benefits BYD because:
• BYD dominates the NEV segment
• BYD’s average selling price is lower than Tesla’s, making subsidies more impactful
But before we cry UNFAIR. Let’s look at Tesla...
Tesla has also received significant U.S. government support, but the type of support is very different from China’s subsidies to BYD.
The Washington Post investigation shows:
• Elon Musk’s companies (including Tesla) have received $38 billion in government funding over 20 years.
• Tesla specifically has earned $11.4 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state programs.
• Tesla buyers benefited from the $7,500 federal EV tax credit (until Tesla hit the 200,000‑vehicle cap in 2019).
These are real subsidies — but they are market‑based incentives, not direct industrial subsidies.
See here:
https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/117951/documents/HHRG-119-JU08-20250227-SD008-U8.pdf
and here:
https://fourwheelask.com/does-tesla-receive-government-subsidies/
In China cars made are cars sold with regards to GDP
Yes China is subsidizing just about everything, but my main question is who is buying these cars.
Africans, Cubans…. don’t imagine average Chinese can afford these things and/or have a place to plug them in.
What I have to wonder is that who in their right mind would want a Chinese built EV? From what I have read, they have a high rate of failure. Of course there are many who have no use for an EV regardless of where it is built. Wouldn’t touch on with a 10 ft. pole myself & part of that reasoning is,admittedly, I think we have very few charging facilities in our area. The other thought is that I don’t think we have many shops here willing to work on them. Parts availability, especially for some China built rig, would be very unreliable.