(JW Insights) May 8 -- China’s export of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells reached RMB264.69 billion yuan ($38 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 66.9%, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).

Of these, electric vehicle exports reached RMB64.75 billion ($9.36 billion), a year-on-year increase of 122.3%, accounting for 43.9% of China’s total automotive exports, reported a Pandaily report on May 8 quoting GACC.

Intense competition in the Chinese automotive market has pushed some companies to seek overseas markets. In 2022, China’s automotive exports reached 3.11 million units, surpassing Germany for the first time, with 679,000 new energy vehicles exported, up 1.2 times year-on-year and accounting for 63% of global new energy vehicle sales. China ranked first worldwide in these areas, said the Pandaily report.

In the first quarter of 2023, BYD exported 43,000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 12.8 times, while Chery exported 172,000 new energy vehicles, up 1.5 times year-on-year. NETA V ranked second in the number of licenses for pure electric vehicles in Thailand as of February.

Europe and America’s high demand for lithium batteries and generous electric vehicle subsidies are making these markets the new incremental markets for power batteries. In the first quarter of this year, China’s lithium battery exports reached RMB109.79 billion ($15.87 billion), a year-on-year increase of 94.3%, said the Pandaily report.

This follows last year’s explosive growth in China’s lithium battery exports. According to GACC, the export value of lithium-ion batteries in China reached RMB342.656 billion ($49.53 billion) in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 86.7%. CATL, BYD, EVE Energy, SVOLT, Farasis Energy, Envision AESC, and Sunwoda, among other Chinese battery enterprises, have demonstrated their technological advantages and production capacity.

The future export of lithium batteries from China is expected to face several restrictions. Starting October 1st this year, the EU will implement a carbon tariff policy and gradually reduce the free quota of EU enterprises, which will raise the entry threshold for the EU market. Moreover, the new European Battery Regulation will rate the carbon footprint of power battery enterprises. This regulation could potentially impact the competitiveness of Chinese battery manufacturers, said the Pandaily report.

(Li PP)