Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.

Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).

  • melfie@lemy.lol
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    13 hours ago

    I’d sooner buy a Chinese EV than a Tesla, but the orange gameshow host running my country says I can’t.

      • melfie@lemy.lol
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        24 minutes ago

        I assume you’re referring to the fact that Tesla has a Shanghai factory and is exporting Teslas made there to Canada.

        • NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk
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          16 minutes ago

          I’m guessing so too as I read (albeit I don’t recall where so could have been an unreliable source) that its the other way around - Tesla utilise BYD for some of their cars destined for the Chinese market

    • 3abas@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Because Biden said you could? He’s the one that doubled tariffs on Chinese EVs from 50% to 100%. Biden also gave the EV tax credit which was essentially a subsidy to Tesla, which Trump ended.

      Note that I’m not defending Trump, but simply noting that the US was heading in his direction. He’s a symptom of advanced disease, but you don’t get to blame him all the shitty things all US presidents ever did. He’s a raging tumor, but the cancer was spreading already.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        27 minutes ago

        Biden increased tariffs…AND invested heavily in battery plants in the US. Trump killed that. Biden’s tariffs were because the Chinese government is dumping in the US to undermine the car industry.

      • melfie@lemy.lol
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        33 minutes ago

        Yeah, I liked Jim Crow Joe even less than orange gameshow host. Some of his policies had direct negative effects on my life. Then the election came around and the democrats decided we don’t get a primary at all this time, so we ended up with a choice between an ignorant gameshow host who somehow fancies himself an independent thinker and a cackling hen who puts on no such airs, both of whom are completely loyal to the international billionaire cabal.

        • ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 hours ago

          Agreed. Not sure what those downvotes are for. I saw this coming 20 years ago. Especially with lobbying as out of control as it has been. If Trump dropped dead now, we’d still have a catastrophe.

      • mirshafie@europe.pub
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        9 hours ago

        You’re absolutely right. Trump is a lightning rod for rage, but most of what the US is doing is bipartisan. It’s a huge problem that so many people harbor false hope for the controlled opposition.

        • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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          3 hours ago

          the controlled opposition.

          The strongly worded letters opposition?
          That’s a joke, right?

        • 3abas@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          People downvoting facts simply because they contradict their own stated position tells so much. They want cheap Chinese EVs but can’t accept that what they defended as protecting American companies (Biden’s tariffs) and making EVs more affordable for Americans (Biden’s EV tax credit) are the reasons they can’t have cheap Chinese EVs.

          Instead of reflecting on the progranda they’ve been consuming, they downvote and move on to repeat the same nonsense later. I’m relieved they didn’t call me a tankie Russian bot this time for suggesting Biden wasn’t an angel.

          • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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            24 minutes ago

            JFC…are people this dumb? The first taste is free buddy, these TEMU EVs are being sold below cost just to attack US industry. BYD has a $38B debt propped up by the Chinese government.

            You geniuses forgot about the Biden investment in US battery plants.

          • melfie@lemy.lol
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            6 minutes ago

            Yeah, people responding to my original comment assume I’d prefer Jim Crow Joe. Trump has a more abrasive personality that a lot of people love to hate, but obviously they’re both geriatric puppets to distract everyone while the billionaire cabal continues business as usual. Trump is primarily an entertainer and is certainly the more engaging distraction.

    • mirshafie@europe.pub
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      9 hours ago

      I want a fucking Huawei P70. The 10x camera on that thing can practically take stabilized macro photos from a 5 m distance. But Ursula says Orange Man will spank her if she allows competition to Apple and Google.

    • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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      13 hours ago

      I can hold out on not buying a new car a hell of a lot longer than the American economy can survive under a tariff regime.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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        10 hours ago

        US is the same as China now. Well that’s not true, US foreign policy is way more batshit insane than China’s. If you can even call it a foreign policy… it seems to me it’s just the whims of a deranged old child molester surrounded by fucking Nazis.

        And China is further away and there’s pretty much zero probability China will invade my country. With the US, who knows? Kinda stupid to send money to a country I may have to be fighting against within a year.

        • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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          3 hours ago

          there’s pretty much zero probability China will invade my country.

          Boots on the ground invasion? Sure, not likely.
          But that’s because China long ago realized the wars to be fought in the 21st century are economic… and they’re way ahead.

        • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today
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          3 hours ago

          Whenever I hear news of China, they built a new electric railway, invented something new, or made massive tech progress.

          Whenever I hear of USA on the other hand…

          …they are still following the philosoohy of the people who explicitly said they want the human race extinct.

      • Auth@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Trump is following in china’s footsteps. His longterm plan will fail because he is not authoritarian enough to retain power. If the CCP were in his shoes they’d have murdered millions of americans to ideologically cleanse the country.

    • Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
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      11 hours ago

      For Australians (alas, big Teska supporters) and much of the world they are all made in China anyway.