After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...
Category: Automotive
BYD Readies Thai Exports as Chinese EVs Lead in Southeast Asia
Government electric vehicle EV incentives in Thailand and Indonesia are significantly influencing the region’s auto market, lifting Chinese brands while slumping Japanese incumbents. BYD will start shipping Thai-built plug-in hybrids to Europe in late August, while in Indonesia, EV ...
A Rosy Road Ahead? Chinese Documentary on EVs in Thailand Arrives as Doubts Mount
Framed like a hopeful road trip into Thailand’s EV future, Auto Roam is a glossy branded documentary by Chinese automotive media Autohome, following a diverse cast of local EV adopters to portray how Chinese electric vehicles are reshaping everyday life in Thailand. Slick, upbeat, and unmistakably ...
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 ...
Chinese-Moroccan Joint Venture Inaugurates EV Battery Parts Plant
A Chinese-Moroccan joint venture announced on Wednesday the inauguration of a new factory for electric car battery components, the first of its kind in the North African country. The complex will ultimately have a production "capacity equivalent to 70 GWh per ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
EV Overtake Hybrids in Indonesia, Car Market Shrinks 15% in May
Indonesia’s car market shrank sharply in May, with wholesale vehicle sales plunging 15.1% year-on-year, as high borrowing costs, weak consumer sentiment, and sluggish wage growth continued to weigh on Southeast Asia’s largest automotive economy. Yet amid the broader contraction, one ...
Is BYD’s Acceleration a Win for Latin America?
By Sally Jabiel A new world order is being contested in the electric vehicles sector. While the trade war between the United States and China rumbles on, the Chinese electric carmaker BYD has already pulled ahead in the race against its ...
Critical Minerals Weekly: China’s Rare Earth Curbs, EV Delays, and Global Supply Chain Scramble
This is a free preview edition of the new Critical Minerals Weekly Digest that will be available to subscribers of the new CGSP Intelligence service that will launch during the Summer of 2025. Topline Insight
Brazil Sues China’s BYD Over ‘Slavery’ Conditions on Build Site
Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric car giant BYD and two contracting companies for human trafficking and alleged slave labor conditions at a build site, according to legal documents seen by AFP Thursday. The case concerns 220 Chinese workers found last ...
As Bolt and Uber Dominate, Kenyan Startup Pushes Local Alternatives
Ride-hailing in Africa has long been dominated by global giants like Uber and Bolt—especially in Kenya, East Africa’s tech innovation hub. But as the electric vehicle movement gathers momentum, a new wave of local startups ...
Chinese EV BYD Dethroned Toyota in Singapore 2025 Car Sales, Signals EV Shift
Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has become the best-selling car brand in Singapore for the first time, surpassing Toyota and far outselling Tesla in the first four months of 2025, according to newly released government data. The milestone marks a significant ...
Chinese EV BYD Dethroned Toyota in Singapore 2025 Car Sales, Signals EV Shift
Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has become the best-selling car brand in Singapore for the first time, surpassing Toyota and far outselling Tesla in the first four months of 2025, according to newly released government data. The milestone marks a significant ...