On Friday, the European Union is expected to vote to finalize new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, after European officials accused Chinese EV companies of benefiting from an unfair level of state support.
Yet the CEO of one of China’s leading EV startups argues that the industry’s success is the result of intense local competition, not state support. “There were rumored to be close to 500 [Chinese] EV startups, probably seven to eight years ago. Now, [we’re] left with less than 10% of those names still in business,” Brian Gu, co-president at Chinese EV startup Xpeng, said Wednesday at a conference in Berlin.
