Electric cars are one of the pillars of the energy transition. Mass adoption is regularly included in forecasts as a necessary condition for the success of that transition. Yet, despite efforts and investments, this mass adoption remains as elusive as nuclear fusion. The decline in EV demand growth is a fact. And it is accelerating. Earlier this week, a battery material maker from Belgium became the latest to sound the alarm on EVs.
So, Mercedes, Renault, and any other European carmakers with factories in China will, starting next month, pay an additional 21% import tariff, while Chinese carmakers will pay individually set tariffs of between 17% for BYD and 38%, the top rate, for SAIC, which the European Commission claimed had not cooperated with its investigation. These tariffs will be added to an already existing import levy of 10% for EV importers, pushing their prices higher.