We hear it all of the time. "The only reason that China's auto industry is so far ahead on electric vehicles is because it was so heavily subsidized by the government," critics say But that sentence is only partially true. It's certainly accurate that some Chinese automakers are state-owned, and that nearly all have benefitted generously from national, state and local subsidies and tax exemptions—some $231 billion over 15 years, by certain projections.
