I was in Berlin this week for a conference on the EU’s relationship with Africa in the context of the continent’s growing ties with external actors, many of whom Europe finds acutely worrying.
The conference eerily landed on the second anniversary of the October 7 attack in Israel. I was in Berlin two years ago as well. In the weeks after the attack, one could see how Western powers’ ...
Category: Battery Technology
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Nigeria Exports First Made-in-Africa EV to U.S. as Chinese Automakers Step Up Global Push
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EV Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. BYD is expanding its line-up for overseas markets by giving access to all of its China-developed ...
China Starts Pitching Car Factory System to Set ASEAN Standards
China’s auto manufacturers are moving from exporting vehicles to exporting manufacturing systems, technology platforms, and standards into ASEAN, using localized rollouts (right-hand models, local partners) to anchor market entry. SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) used the 22nd ASEAN Expo to shift its ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Spiro-Church Charging Push, Ethiopia’s EV Future, and Europe’s ICE Lobby
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. Innovations in Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) market continue with partnerships that are as unique as the solutions they ...
Q&A: China’s EV in Southeast Asia: Growth or Dependency Trap?
A few weeks ago at the Indonesian auto show, I stood near a cluster of visitors crowding around new electric cars EVs. I noticed three questions that came up repeatedly as people leaned in to quiz the sales reps: How far can it go? Will it last? ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: BYD Thailand Exporting to Europe, Limited Infrastructure Slows Ghana’s EV Adoption and Chinese EV Imitations Go Rogue
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. The African electric vehicle (EV) market is projected to grow by 25 percent annually over the next ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Changan’s 932-Mile EV Battery, Chery’s SA Crash Test and Nairobi’s New E-Tuktuks
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. This week, news broke of Chinese automaker Changan's plans to unveil an electric vehicle (EV) with ...
China’s Battery Supremacy Tests Southeast Asia’s EV Ambitions
At a recent auto show in Jakarta, a curious pattern emerged. The most common questions from potential buyers of products from the EV industry were simple: How far will it go? Will it last? How is the safety? The answers to all three lie deep within the ...
Chinese EV Investment Shifts Abroad, Tech Stay Home: Report
Chinese EV makers invested more abroad than at home in 2024 for the first time, Rhodium Group data show, but real production capacity and completion rates remain overwhelmingly domestic, revealing early-stage globalization with high foreign execution risk. About 15% of ...
Indonesia Taps Australian Lithium as China Builds EV Battery Plant
Indonesia will soon begin importing lithium from Australia to address a critical shortage of this essential raw material needed for its rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) sector, according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia. The decision highlights ...
China Corners the Market on a Little-Known but Crucial Tech Mineral
A Chinese mining and materials giant, Sinomine Resource Group, is ramping up its dominance in the critical minerals sector, with a $400 million investment in Zimbabwe for the construction of the world’s second cesium smelting plant. The move positions Sinomine ...
BYD Tops Southeast Asia EV Sales, Tesla Drops in Hong Kong
BYD overtakes Tesla in Hong Kong and dominates Indonesia’s EV market in the first half of 2025. With tariffs rising in the West, China’s electric vehicle giants are rapidly expanding across Southeast Asia. In the first half of 2025, ...
Youthful Technicians Building Malawi’s E-bikes Driven by Chinese Tech
An electric vehicle (EV) company in Malawi, one of the continent’s smallest and landlocked economies, is making groundbreaking efforts to electrify transportation in the country, which is also one of the poorest in the world. Despite the challenges of raising capital ...