China Established Waxing Electric Cars at Geneva Motor Show
Membership in the World Organization of China's trade in 2001 meant the beginning of what some call the golden decade it was like lighting a fuse Economic growth has skyrocketed, the swollen demand for energy, and China's auto market has achieved year after year many US hedge fund managers and private equity investors, it seemed China might do something is apparently overnight, Shanghai broke the mudflats of Pudong in one of the most modern cities in the world While Europe, Japan and America have struggled through the great recession, China was still economically tear the Communist Party roamed the country with the world's largest bullet train network, and China seemed always results exceed Western expectations for the Chinese themselves, these results began to s Embler rather pedestrian, they were expected Huang Yonghe, chief engineer of the Research Center for Chinese automotive technology, nostalgically remembers the automotive sector by 40 percent year to year grow th in this decade Golden We thought it was normal, he said.
They charged ahead without the most basic understanding of how to build a quality car, never mind an electric car.
But almost all of this growth was based on technological catch assimilating Western knowledge about the Chinese market Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang believed that his country could do more he wanted to jump in the West dominating the market emerging electric vehicle Certainly the thinking of many academics, policy makers, but especially investors, if Wan Gang and Chinese economic wizards group sought to overtake the West in automotive technology, they could.
But even sophisticated observers have failed to appreciate the complexity of the construction of a new transport system based on the electric car, and that Beijing had not really developed an integrated strategy to accomplish this feat Most international financiers have invested billions of dollars to hedge funds, private equity groups, and banks have hung China first thesis Wan Gang But they didn t understand much about China, let alone the EV market China All they understood was that they did not want to miss the world -leading EV transformation that the Government of China and the Western news media talked so much.
They had heard that sponsorship for the China EV program came all the right top of the President of China Hu Jintao personally introduced private grant in the program, said an insider from the Chinese automotive industry industrial transformation of this DIDN magnitude t just pop every day, and the growth potential is staggering the global automotive industry represented an economy as large as India and the transformation of this sector means that this market was to win Nowhere was the most dramatic potential in China.
It was easy to overlook the Japanese and American efforts face of booming car market in China after a decade of anemic growth, Japan just wasn t as sexy as China, it was considered the sick man of the 'Asian American industry was also its biggest automaker for now derided as Government Motors.
But Japan and America were the true driving forces behind this transformation California Air Resource Board of the State has been meticulously creates political incentives that would force automakers worldwide to build and sell electric cars not only California, other states like New York, Oregon, and Massachusetts in Japan, bureaucrats coordinated with industry to refine mechanisms to launch their EV area on a sustainable growth path not least, Japan invests enormously in extensive network of fast chargers around the country, nothing as concrete or strategic was happening in China.
Ironically, most of the same American capitalists who have turned their noses up at the Washington interference with GM and Chrysler were absolutely delighted by the China corporatism in China's authoritarian economy, was the so effective government could simply make things happen Why electric vehicles be otherwise.
A steady drumbeat of media sensationalism strengthened this story, but on the ground in China, it was hard to shake the feeling that none of the major players really understood how to meet those expectations were not responsible, and none of them really knew what they were doing the Communist Party wanted Chinese companies to build electric vehicles, and thought they would be, somehow, easier to refine than vehicles with internal combustion engine they understood as the necessary motors, inverters and lithium ion batteries all had reached a sufficient level of maturity If necessary, they thought they could force foreign companies to cede valuable technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market to win Beijing's favor, the Chinese auto companies made sure they looked busy on the rec Herche, development and deployment side.
But where was charging infrastructure if aliens have decided not to exchange their technological endowment for access to the China market where technology would come and who would buy these native Chinese electric vehicles All these questions remain unanswered.
In an ideal world, the infrastructure to recharge electric vehicles have been sponsored or mandated by the government and theoretically, these facilities could be installed fairly cheap in China already building massive amounts of new housing, parking and roads with smart regulation, channeling and EV charging son could have been included in this expansion of capital stock.
If China wanted low cost, high quality electric vehicles, companies were free to obtain foreign technology without risking access to lucrative subsidies as they were in California had indeed followed the China the example of California, foreign automakers were encouraged not needed to compete with China for local companies to produce the best, the most attractive electric vehicles possible for the Chinese market All that foreign competition would be models revenue generated could encourage China rich buyers, a social class already fallen in love with foreign car, buy electric cars high -Quality indeed, it may have been a Chinese Tesla.
But instead of running a race for the car of the future, China was on its own domestic circuit With so little exposure to international markets, they would never emerge as a real competitor in the global space EV.
In fact, the Chinese EV makers have rarely had to fight them at the national level, on the contrary, it is the provincial and municipal mayors and governors who believed fiercely competitive local officials that the best way to ensure the survival of a local EV manufacturer was set up walls against competition at a time and foreign and domestic for the city companies regularly known, provincial or regional monopolies on sales EV while some domestic companies were really excited about the prospects for electric vehicles, others were more hesitant But for essentially political reasons, they all accused wildly before many of them without the most basic understanding of how to build a quality car, never mind of an electric car.
Most companies that were supposed to lead the China EV market had been set up overnight in response to the central government announced massive subsidies One of them was Beijing Electric Vehicle Company CTO the company Frank Liao had lived the United States as a young man, learned fluent English, earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin and worked on some electric vehicles high profile startups, he even consultant on the famous GM EV1 and sentenced Liao project had a great laugh and held the distinction of being perhaps the only person in Beijing who actually stopped his car at pedestrian crossings, where pedestrians watched him with deep astonishment, even suspicion, as he waited mow.
Liao knew that Beijing Electric Vehicles Company was money, there was land grants, there were subsidies, it had the support of local and national government, and had leadership with industry experience he even technological platforms of high quality that the company had recently purchased the sick, and soon bankrupt Saab Automobile business But inside the industrial juggernaut China, he had little confidence that efforts China to jump western step succeed entire enterprise was a huge gamble and infinitely more complex than hedge fund managers sitting in their leather and offices of Wall Street understood Yet the American media and the financial community were still subservient to China first thesis They remained so long after the Chinese themselves knew that their EV program was on a course of ugly accidents.
Adapted from The Great Race The global quest for the car of the future of Levi Tillemann Copyright 2015 by Levi Tillemann-Dick Reprinted by permission of Simon Schuster, Inc.
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