EV growth was once limited by cost and associated infrastructure. Chinese models flooding emerging markets this year tell a different story, and display an important pivot in emphasis.
One of our favorite anecdotes in this year's EM reportage came from Reuters' recent look at the burgeoning growth of Chinese electric vehicles in South America. A Peruvian EV owner got creative with his home's DIY charging infrastructure. Lacking proper grounding for the current, he “grabbed a fork, stuck it into the soil … and the car charged”.
Commentators earlier this year mused about the Chinese EV market collapsing upon itself, with excess supply causing a price war that would undercut margins. Cleary, those comments weren't coming from EM-based markets. Perhaps they were even ignoring the ever-growing presence of Chinese branded EVs on European streets. Indeed, there was always another option: find paths of least friction and bump exports.
That concerted effort has come in EMs, where a combination of more affordable EVs and growing consumer purchasing power has helped adoption increase. In Latin America, it begins as a Belt-and-Road story, with BRI funding the Chancay Port in Peru that has opened up a fast and cost-efficient channel to moving the cars to the continent.
On a wider basis, however, industry statistics show China's dominance in many other regions too. With a few exceptions, where domestic manufacturers reign, China OEMs have cornered the EV market in numerous emerging economies, with leading brands becoming ubiquitous, and some even moving production onshore.
The other half of the story is the demand perspective - the fork in the ground. Buying an EV in an emerging market was once a journey: sourcing preferred inventory, of securing financing and any incentives, and perhaps most trickily, figuring out how to charge it in countries that haven't prioritized public infrastructure.
And for a variety of reasons, all of those of barriers have begun to fall away - or, in the last case, simply become less important. Private charging setups have become much more common, and improved batteries (even in more affordable models) mean decreased inconvenience and range issues in ownership. Like the cars themselves, they are becoming commoditized, and home-installed solar-based chargers are being piloted.
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