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How China Became a Global E-Vehicle Leader

by Cobus van Staden
A worker checks the cables on the battery for Ford Motor Co. battery-powered F-150 Lightning trucks under production at their Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan on September 20, 2022. JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP

While Western automotive industries are trying to figure out how to decouple their supply chains from the Chinese battery sector, Chinese commentators don’t seem particularly panicked. 

In fact, the e-vehicle industry is being touted as a national victory. This becomes clear in this fascinating conversation between Yin Chengliang, an e-vehicle expert and the dean of the Automotive Engineering Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Zhang Weiwei, a Fudan University academic who’s emerging as a nationalist commentator.

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