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Electric & new energy vehicles

Electric & new energy vehicles
Latest news, in-depth features and opinion on electric & new energy vehicles, with a particular focus on China.
People shop for electric vehicles at a store in Wan Chai on February 26, after the financial secretary said subsidies for private EVs would not be renewed. Photo: Jelly Tse
Hong Kong budget 2026-27

Editorial | EVs in Hong Kong must compete on their own merits

The decision to end tax breaks for private electric cars is part of the necessary transition from incentives to market-driven growth.

Belt and Road Initiative

China poised to earn vast profits from global energy transition: analysts

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Hong Kong environmental issues

Opinion | The high price of Hong Kong’s slow switch to electric buses and taxis

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Hong Kong budget 2026-27

Commercial EV use needs boost after car owner tax break ends, green groups say

Environmentalists back move to end first registration tax concessions for private electric cars, say focus must pivot to businesses.

EVs account for 16 per cent of the total number of vehicles in Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse
Autonomous vehicles

Breakthrough or hype? How WeRide aims to edge rivals in crowded robotaxi field

WeRide says its world model has slashed costs to support global expansion, but investors question if it can deliver a lasting advantage.

China-Germany relations

Merz’s China tightrope: German leader has warm words, hard questions for Beijing

German chancellor strikes diplomatic tone in Beijing meetings while pushing his hosts on subsidies, currency devaluation and Russia.

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Automotive industry

China’s Geely bets on longer-range, faster-charging tech over fresh EV price war

‘We promise to compete based on technology, quality, brand, service and corporate ethics,’ Geely Auto CEO says.

Technicians are seen working at the assembly line of Geely Auto’s Changxing plant in Huzhou, eastern Zhejiang province. Photo: VCG via Getty Images
Mainland China

Low-cost models dominate China EV sales, surpassing Tesla and BYD

Geely’s and Wuling’s sub-100,000 yuan battery EVs ranked first and second in mainland China last year, each selling over 400,000 units.

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Insurance

China’s EV insurers move towards profitability on higher premiums, AI adoption

Chinese insurers are turning to AI as the technology cuts labour costs and enhances pricing accuracy.

Future of transport

China bets on electric ships in push to decarbonise waterways, expand EV success

Twin strengths, battery technology and shipbuilding, are being fused to electrify maritime transport, moving beyond short-haul passenger vessels to commercial cargo.

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China is building electric cargo ships to decarbonise the nation’s waterways. This December 2024 image shows the nation’s first “clean drift transfer” ship, which is a zero-emission vessel designed to collect floating debris and waste from rivers, lakes or coastal areas. Photo: Getty Images
Science

EU bans Chinese organisations from critical tech programmes, including AI, chips

Chinese space scientist Wu Ji doubts the policy will hurt China much and may instead ‘make Europe appear more isolated’.

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The EU has barred most organisations based in China from applying for its Horizon Europe grants in “critical areas”. Image: Shutterstock
China economy

Opinion | How the next China shock is shaping hearts and minds

No longer confined to trade and technology, competition between China and the West is now playing out in the realm of cultural imagination.

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Mainland China

Geely’s Zeekr shifts into Italy as China’s European EV push gathers speed

The carmaker is pressing ahead despite tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, betting on demand for high-spec models.

China’s private sector

Speed bump ahead: rising battery costs nudge Chinese drivers towards hybrids

Higher lithium prices and the end of incentives are reshaping China’s EV market, with hybrids emerging as a more practical option for many.

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Workers produce lithium batteries in Qinyang, central China’s Henan province. Photo: Xinhua
India

Video | Recycling is India’s critical minerals ‘gold mine’

E-waste has long been described as a ‘gold mine’ for critical minerals in the nation where commercial mining of such material is years away.

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Gold in Hong Kong

Copper, lithium unlikely to match gold’s gains as output rises: Goldman

Record gold prices have lifted sentiment across raw materials, but analysts expect differentiated returns as producers ratchet up output.

China-Latin America relations

Chinese steel hit with duties up to US$670 per tonne after Brazil dumping probe

Government anti-dumping investigation found Chinese imports were being sold at unfairly low prices, harming domestic producers.

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US-China trade war

Has Trump ceded EV market to China with latest string of policy shifts?

Analysts say rolling back regulations pushes US further towards petrol cars, discourages EV innovation, and gives China competitive edge.

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The BYD Explorer vessel docks at Yantai port in eastern China’s Shandong province as it awaits the loading of Chinese electric vehicles for export overseas. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Colour matters: how AI is changing car premiums and services in China

Car colour, driving habits and location influence insurance premiums, according to a digital solutions provider using ByteDance’s AI model.

SCMP Highlights

CATL’s sodium-ion breakthrough, Tesla’s AI training centre: 7 EV reads

From China banning carmakers from selling below cost to Chinese brands’ dominance in Brazil, here are seven EV stories you may have missed.

Automotive industry

Ford plans US$30,000 budget EV line to take on Chinese rivals

Ford shrinks battery size while extending driving range in bid to launch the new EV by 2027 for the same price as a conventional petrol car.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has called Chinese competition an “existential threat”. Photo: AP
Mainland China

Chinese cars now can’t be sold for less than it costs to make them

Regulator bans tactics that result in a net loss per vehicle after a 7 per cent drop in the average car price.

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Cars are lined up for inspection at carmaker Great Wall Motor’s plant in Baoding, in northern China’s Hebei province, on November 24, 2025. Photo: Reuters
European Union

China cuts EU dairy tariffs, easing trade tensions after EV dispute

EU called Beijing’s tariffs ‘unwarranted’, and mulls WTO action, but China cutting some duties signals possible improvement in ties.

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Americas and the Caribbean

Why China’s BYD and Geely are eyeing Mexico’s idle auto plants

With Mexico’s auto sector battered by tariffs, Chinese investment offers a lifeline that threatens to inflame tensions with Washington.

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China manufacturing

China’s efforts to control EV price war sees carmakers paying vendors quicker

Only a handful of the nearly 50 mainland China-based EV builders have been able to turn a profit amid the price wars.

An aerial drone photo taken on January 14, 2026, shows domestically produced vehicles for export at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong Province. Photo: Xinhua
Robotics

Opinion | For clues to China’s next overcapacity cycle, watch the Spring Festival Gala

AI robots taking centre stage at the coming Spring Festival Gala – now a national tech showcase – will signal official endorsement and likely trigger herd investment.

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Humanoid robots from Chinese company Unitree Robotics are seen backstage at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in Beijing on January 28, 2025. The organisers of this year’s gala have partnered with robotics and embodied intelligence companies, including Unitree, Galbot and MagicLab, for the show. Photo: Xinhua
Automotive industry

China’s EV sales boom runs short on battery life

EV price wars are heating up again in China as the end of stimulus measures dampens domestic demand.

Mainland China

Exclusive | CATL’s new innovation expands EV battery horizons in untapped cold regions

The Chinese giant pulls an ace from its sleeve amid fierce EV competition by bringing sodium-ion batteries to the mass-produced car market.

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