Finding
China is the default supplier at every stage of the EV chain, and its manufacturers are consolidating at home while expanding abroad
CATL and BYD installed 56% of the world's EV batteries in 2025, and six of the ten largest battery makers are Chinese. BYD overtook Tesla in battery-electric sales in 2025. Price competition is thinning out weaker brands - Neta's parent Hozon entered bankruptcy restructuring in 2025 - while Leapmotor, Xiaomi and Huawei's HIMA alliance gained share.
Exports and overseas plants are the outlet for surplus capacity: BYD builds in Thailand, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Hungary and Türkiye; Chery in Spain; Geely through Proton in Malaysia and Volvo Cars in Europe and the US. Battery makers follow: CATL in Germany, Hungary, Spain and Indonesia; Gotion in Germany, Slovakia, Morocco and Illinois; EVE Energy in Hungary and Malaysia.
Beijing has turned its lead into leverage with export controls on graphite (2023), battery cathode and lithium-processing technology (2025) and rare earths (2025), part of which was suspended for a year under the late-2025 trade truce with the US. Taiwan is covered on the Asia-Pacific page.
Directory
Major Chinese manufacturers (A-Z)
EV makers and cell producers; EVs only.
| Manufacturer | Sector | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAIC Group | EVs | Operating | ARCFOX brand; Stelato with Huawei |
| BYD | EVs, buses, cells, BESS, chips | Operating, global | BYD: Blade LFP cells, DM and e-Platform 3.0, SiC devices |
| CALB | Cells | Operating | Prismatic cells; plant in Portugal planned |
| CATL | Cells, BESS | Operating, global | CATL: Shenxing LFP, Qilin, sodium-ion Naxtra, TENER storage |
| Chery Automobile | EVs | Operating | Largest Chinese car exporter; iCAR and Exeed EVs; Spain with Ebro |
| CRRC | Rail traction, buses | Operating | Rolling stock, traction systems, SiC modules |
| Dongfeng Motor | EVs, trucks | Operating | Voyah EVs; commercial EVs |
| EVE Energy | Cells | Operating | Cylindrical and LFP storage cells; Hungary plant for BMW |
| GAC Aion | EVs | Operating | Aion and Hyptec; Rayong, Thailand plant |
| Geely Holding | EVs | Operating, global | Geely: Geely Galaxy, Zeekr, Lynk and Co, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Smart |
| Gotion High-Tech | Cells, BESS | Operating | LFP specialist; Volkswagen is the largest shareholder |
| Great Wall Motor | EVs | Operating | Ora EVs; Spotlight JV builds electric Minis with BMW |
| Huawei HIMA | EVs (alliance) | Operating | Aito (Seres), Luxeed (Chery), Stelato (BAIC), Maextro (JAC) |
| Leapmotor | EVs | Operating | Stellantis owns about 21%; Leapmotor International sells in Europe |
| Li Auto | EVs | Operating | Battery-electric i8 and i6 SUVs alongside its range-extended range |
| NIO | EVs, battery swap | Operating | NIO: NIO, Onvo and Firefly brands; swap stations |
| SAIC Motor | EVs | Operating | SAIC: MG, IM, SAIC-GM-Wuling; VW and GM joint ventures |
| SVOLT Energy | Cells | Operating | Great Wall spin-off; European plants cancelled |
| Xiaomi Auto | EVs | Operating | SU7 and YU7 from Beijing |
| XPeng | EVs, ADAS, robots | Operating | XPeng: in-house Turing chip; platform deal with Volkswagen |
| Yutong | Buses | Operating | Largest bus maker; electric buses exported to Europe and Latin America |
| Zeekr | EVs | Operating | Geely's premium brand, taken private by Geely Auto in 2025 |
Materials
Materials, refining and recycling (selected)
| Company | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Brunp (CATL) | Recycling, precursor | Closed loop for CATL cells |
| BTR New Material | Anode | Largest anode maker; plants in Indonesia and Morocco |
| CMOC | Cobalt, copper mining | Largest cobalt producer (DR Congo) |
| CNGR Advanced Material | Precursor | Plants in Indonesia and Morocco |
| Ganfeng and Tianqi Lithium | Lithium chemicals | Refineries in China; mines in Australia, Argentina and Mali |
| GEM | Recycling, nickel-cobalt | Indonesian HPAL partner with Tsingshan |
| Hunan Yuneng | LFP cathode | Largest LFP cathode supplier |
| Huayou Cobalt | Nickel, cobalt, precursor | Indonesian HPAL plants; Zimbabwe lithium |
| JL Mag | NdFeB magnets | Supplier to Tesla, BYD and wind OEMs |
Market access
Policy and market access
| Measure | Effect |
|---|---|
| NEV purchase tax | Full exemption ended 2025; 5% tax in 2026-2027 |
| Trade-in subsidies | National scrappage and replacement subsidies for EVs since 2024 |
| Export controls | Graphite, battery cathode and lithium-processing technology, rare earths and magnets |
| US | 100% Section 301 tariff; connected-vehicle rule bars Chinese software from model year 2027 |
| European Union | Countervailing duties of 7.8% to 35.3% on BEVs; price undertakings under negotiation |
| Mexico, Canada, Brazil | Mexico duties toward 50%; Canada quota; Brazil import tax rising to 35% |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- China
- Sources
- SNE Research (2026); IEA Global EV Outlook; MOFCOM; company disclosures
- Updated
- October 2026