The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 73, March 2025 Page 15 From the series The world car battle It is predicted that next year in China the sales of electrified vehicles (mainly battery-powered or hybrid) will for the first time overtake those of cars with an internal combustion engine. This development will mark a historic about turn which will put the world's biggest auto market years ahead of its Western rivals [Financial Times, December 26th]. Meanwhile, the growth in sales of electric vehicles in Europe and the United States has slowed. BYD's leap forward Another important development in 2024 was the record sales of Chinese brands in China: they rose from 38% of the total in 2020 to 56%, a sign of the maturation of the national auto industry which is now able to challenge the Japanese, American, and European manufacturers. BYD's leap forward is impressive, comparable to that of Ford Motors after the First World War, when with the Model T, introduc...

Internationalism No. 71, January 2025 Page 1 From the series The world car battle On September 6th, Toyota, the world's largest car manufacturer, an nounced a revised target of building I million electric vehicles by 2026, lowering its previous goal by 1.5 million, according to Automotive News . Difficulties of the electric sector A key driver behind the energy transition, particularly as regards vehicle electrification, is that countries which lack oil and natural gas resources need to reduce their reliance on regions prone to political instability and conflict. China has taken on the challenge of large-scale electrification, even though the electric car was pioneered by US manufacturers like Tesla and the Franco-Japanese Renault-Nissan alliance. Other nations have followed suit out of necessity. By focusing solely on environmental concerns, without factoring in China’s role, it is impossible to understand the impetus behind the global energy trans...

From the series The world car battle If at the beginning of the 21 st century electrification had technological limits in batteries, both in terms of cost and range, these are now partly overcome, because electric cars have a range of 240-450 km, more than enough for 95% of journeys of less than 50 km. The major obstacle remains the construction of a network of charging stations and their integration with the electricity grid. The race between China, Europe, and USA UBS Evidence Lab, a team of UBS bank experts working in 55 specialised labs to provide data on investment decisions, predicts that cost parity between electric and internal combustion cars will be achieved in 2024 [ Inside EVs , October 20th 2020]. By then, the development of car electrification will be self-sustaining without government subsidies. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), in its report Electric Vehicle Outlook 2020 , estimates that by 2022 carmakers will have 500 different models of electric cars avai...