Inside China’s electric car capital where rush hour is almost silent
Pensioners practice tai chi along the horseshoe-shaped river that carves through Liuzhou as cars and buses glide quietly past. Rush hour is surprisingly peaceful, with misty mornings and little traffic noise, as many of the vehicles in the city are powered by electricity instead of petrol, including buses, taxis and passenger vehicles.
Mini electric vehicles (EVS) are the most popular – two or four-seat cars half the size of a sedan and customised with stickers such as Peppa Pig and Garfield. Even police drive these tiny cars – their vehicles are emblazoned with stickers of dimpled cartoon cops.
About a third of the cars sold in Liuzhou are electric, a figure that’s growing. That’s more than five times the rest of China, making Liuzhou a leader in the world’s largest EV market.
China has aggressively pushed new energy vehicles to cut pollution and traffic at home, and Beijing wants to dominate industry globally as countries – such as the UK with its net-zero strategy – implement targets to phase out diesel and petrol vehicles.
In Liuzhou, residents have welcomed the environmental benefits in the city of four million once dominated by the polluting steel and chemical industries.
“The air is definitely so much cleaner,” said Wei Haiyun, 39, a taxi driver who bought an EV two months ago and now saves about 4,000 yuan (£450) a month on petrol. The city began its push for EVS in 2017 and the rewards are obvious.
Water quality is also excellent in the river, top-ranked last year by the ministry of ecology and environment. It’s home to snails used in a popular noodle soup, and residents say some wells are pure enough to drink from.
Liuzhou may offer a glimpse of the future, with greener transport to moderate the impact of climate change.
Electric vehicles do “offer an opportunity to substantially lower emissions from greenhouse gases”, said Anders Hammer Strømman, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “But there are two important caveats ... we need both the production and operation of the vehicles to be done in as green a manner as possible.”
It means that getting consumer buy-in with EVS – which authorities achieved in Liuzhou with free parking and purchase subsidies – is just one step of a broader transformation.
One of the biggest challenges with electric vehicles is how they’re powered, said Barbara Finamore, a senior visiting research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
“The largest component of the carbon footprint of an EV is the battery production – the mining, refining, transport of critical materials,” she said. “The other component is what type of electricity is powering the car.”
Most electricity in China still comes from coal-fired power plants, which means EVS are charged by a heavilypolluting source, although there are plans to use more renewable energy.
In the UK, gas accounts for roughly 36 per cent of electricity, followed by wind and solar at 28 per cent.
Battery technology also needs to evolve. For now, EV batteries rely on cobalt, manganese, and nickel, metals that are mined primarily in African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, and extracted via a process that can be environmentally degrading.
The industry has been plagued with human rights concerns, including child labour and poor working conditions. Amnesty International says children as young as seven work 12-hour days in Congo’s cobalt mines for a dollar a day.
China has locked up access to much of the world’s key battery ingredients, buying up cobalt mines in Africa for decades. Estimates put China in control of 80 per cent of the world’s raw material refining and 60 per cent of component manufacturing.
China is also home to CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, which supplies firms including Tesla, its biggest customer, and Volkswagen.
A supply chain disruption could be disastrous for other nations.
Last year, 64 per cent of China’s new energy vehicle exports went to just six European countries, topped by Belgium and the UK.
“There is a risk that China will flood the foreign markets with [its] EV brands,” said Tu Le, of Sino Auto Insights, a consultancy in Beijing.
Government support for the EV sector led to an explosion. Subsidies provided a backstop, giving companies confidence to dive into something new. However, it’s still unclear whether Chinese firms with firstmover advantage will be able to maintain momentum.
In the first half of this year,
2.55 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide. China accounted for 47 per cent of those sales, followed by Europe at 40 per cent and the US at 3 per cent.
Adverts for EVS are everywhere in Liuzhou, including on buses and trains, which themselves run on electricity.
Liao Jun, 39, folds his large frame daily into the mini-ev he shares with his girlfriend to get to work as manager of an electric vehicle charging station.
“Basically we never drive petrol cars any more,” he said.
By comparison, his mini-car is
“so convenient”, he said. “Plus, parking is free.”
‘There is a risk that China will flood the foreign markets with [its] EV brands’