Welcome to the next issue of China x Cleantech, our June 2019 edition. Below I will inform you of rapid changes that are happening in China’s cleantech market. For our full China × Cleantech history, stroll over to the “Future Trends” section of our website. For last month’s edition, check here.
Renewable Energy
China Stands Ready To Become Offshore Wind Powerhouse
Joshua S Hill reported on the possibility of Chinese firms taking the lead on global rankings of offshore wind turbine manufacturers without even leaving the Chinese market, even as they face a tough uphill battle to enter the international offshore wind power market.
EV Sales
China EV Sales Report — Foreign Brands Shine In Cooling Market (May 2019)
Jose Pontes reported on May EV sales in China for CleanTechnica. In the report, he noted that the Chinese plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market had only 104,000 registrations in May, which is up only 2% year over year (YoY). He pointed out the context, however, that the mainstream market continues to shrink — it was down 17% in May. This meant that PEV sales reached 6.6% of all auto sales in May.
Jose outlined what this increasing PEV share might mean going forward in the Chinese market, and that the Chinese PEV market is the most interesting market in the world. Jose showed a number of charts visualizing May sales and overall sales for January to May. He went into details on the changes and interesting results in the market data. Read the article for the full breakdown and Jose’s great insights.
Sales chart by Zach Shahan, CleanTechnica (available for use anywhere with permission)
EV News
JAC Electric-Only Ride-Hailing Service — #CleanTechnica Exclusive
I reported on Hexing Yueche, an electric-only ride-hailing service run by JAC. In this report, I break down what JAC plans to do with the service, how the service is used, my own experience using it, and the connection between the service and Volkswagen. I include a number of pictures of the 3 vehicles used by the service.
Photo by Timothy Dixon (CC BY-SA license)
Tesla
The Chinese Tesla Model 3 “Super Margin” (Forecast)
Maarten Vinkhuyzen went into how the Tesla Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai will impact Tesla’s ability to get a good margin on the Model 3 sold in China. He dove into details on how margins work, the competition in China, how production scale and experience might impact margin, and what margin we could expect for Tesla. He ends with a joke, so read the full interesting article explaining Tesla’s possible margin boost in China.
Tesla Gigafactory 3 Nears Completion — Watch For Yourself
Carolyn Fortuna reported on the near completion of Tesla Gigafactory 3. She described in vivid detail the view of the nearly complete factory from recent drone flyover videos. She included pictures showing its development over these months and then dove deep into the background of the factory, the history of foreign automakers being required to create joint ventures in China for manufacturing, the huge size of the Chinese automotive market, and Tesla’s unique position leapfrogging the precedent. She wrote a descriptive prose about the factory and its place in Shanghai, China, which gives you a better understanding than purely looking at the factory pictures could give. She ended by outlining how big of a market/opportunity this is and how Tesla has taken bold, decisive action to build on this opportunity.
Hydrogen News
Hydrogen news in China has been trending over the last year. This might be due to the Chinese government changing incentives for New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) to now favor Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) rather than fully Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). Numerous local governments, international players, and big automotive companies have been releasing press releases about many kinds of hydrogen-related news. Here are two illustrative examples.
500km Chinese Manufactured Bus
Hydrogen-Only NEV Subsidies in Chengdu
In Chengdu, for the last year, Dongfang Electric (a state-owned enterprise specializing in power generation equipment and power infrastructure) cooperated with Chengdu’s bus service to put 10 FCEV buses in service. The buses have a range of 500 kilometers.
Chengdu governmental agencies released a statement that they will not subsidize NEVs except for FCEVs from June 26. This is in line with the Chinese central government’s policy to retreat on BEV subsidies while keeping FCEV subsidies.
With this news in mind, we should understand that we are seeing an uptick in FCEVs due to a number of factors, including government support and push for more commercially available FCEVs.
Opinion
China Is Eating Our Lunch, & What We Can Do About It
Barry A.F. wrote an article about China investing into a sustainable future and its impact on countries dragging their feet by outlining how laggard countries can react positively to this and invest in their own future and profit from it. He outlined some of the strategies that could be employed to speed up the transition and create a long-term profitable industrial base.
See our previous China × Cleantech reports for more info from the red giant. Subscribe to the China X Cleantech newsletter to not miss a beat.
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