editorial: what does india's largest automaker's purchase of chinese battery packs mean?
2024-08-31
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according to multiple indian media reports, tata motors, which accounts for more than 60% of the indian electric vehicle market, will purchase electric vehicle battery packs from chinese manufacturers to solve performance problems such as battery power decline in early models and expand procurement sources. prior to this, tata motors only used chinese battery products in electric buses, and passenger electric vehicle batteries have always relied on tata subsidiaries for supply. the report said that this shift was made against the backdrop of challenges facing the electric vehicle market, including declining sales and intensified competition. tata motors is selling electric vehicles at competitive prices to attract more buyers. mahindra, another important indian automaker, was also reported to use battery cells produced by byd.
for some time, electric vehicles have been the focus of international public opinion, and green industries represented by electric vehicles have even become a new hotspot for trade frictions. the united states and some other countries have fabricated the so-called "china's overcapacity" issue, not only unreasonably imposing tariffs on electric vehicles imported from china, but also hyping that due to their tariffs, china's electric vehicles will be "dumped" in markets such as india. faced with china's leading position in the field of electric vehicles, india's domestic understanding is also diverse. some call for learning from china's path of electric vehicle development and conducting pragmatic cooperation with china, some hope to replace china as the global electric vehicle manufacturing center, and some are affected by domestic protectionist ideas and external hype and warn that the development of electric vehicles depends on china.
the significance of tata's latest move is that it shows us the actual situation of the current development of the global green industry and the space for cooperation between the chinese and indian markets from the perspective of the industry. in fact, tata's choice is very easy to understand from a business logic perspective, just as ford, a veteran american automaker, said in a statement not long ago, "affordable cars start with affordable batteries." ford, which has a deep understanding of this, announced last year that it would cooperate with chinese battery manufacturer catl to build an electric vehicle battery factory in michigan. however, due to interference from internal political factors in the united states, the project has been full of twists and turns, and ford is still struggling on the road to electrification. obviously, tata does not want to suffer the losses that ford has suffered, especially in the indian market, which is more sensitive to car prices.
more importantly, in the context of the global green industry development facing the risk of pan-politicization, tata once again highlighted the importance of global cooperation for the development of green industries through market-oriented rather than politically oriented cost optimization choices. it should be said that the indian government and the business community have high expectations for the development of electric vehicles. previously, india joined the "ev30@30 target initiative", aiming to achieve the goal of 30% sales of electric vehicles by 2030, and the indian government has also introduced a number of measures to increase local electric vehicle production capacity. however, due to various factors such as price, india's current electric vehicle sales are still lower than expected. if the cost-effectiveness, competitiveness and other issues cannot be solved through market means, then long-term development may be out of the question. it is in this sense that establishing a certain degree of cooperation with the mature chinese electric vehicle industry chain supply chain is a rational choice to accelerate the development of india's electric vehicle industry.
not only india, but also many countries in the "global south", such as southeast asia, the middle east, africa, latin america and other regions, have proposed decarbonization policies and plan to increase investment in the field of electric vehicles. china's cost-effective green manufacturing and technical support have given them the courage and strength to embrace modernization. whether it is the electric buses that are popular on the streets of latin america and africa, the photovoltaic facilities deep in the desert of the middle east, the largest wind power project in central asia, or the hydropower stations along the mekong river, china has left a deep footprint in global green development cooperation, which is in line with the energy transformation vision and people's livelihood development goals of various countries, and has accelerated the world's transformation to a sustainable future.
it is necessary to emphasize that, whether facing the advent of the electric vehicle revolution or the increasingly serious climate crisis, what the world needs is not green barriers, but cooperation to jointly achieve green transformation. there is still a lot of room for the "global south" countries to achieve win-win and leapfrog development through cooperation. at this time, the beneficiaries of establishing green barriers or engaging in green "decoupling" will definitely not be the "global south" countries. the so-called "overcapacity" is nothing more than an attempt to delay or even deprive the vast majority of "global south" countries of their right to achieve green development through discourse hegemony. for the "global south" countries, the top priority is still to build relevant production capacity by expanding openness and actively participating in global division of labor and cooperation. in this regard, china is both a pioneer and a fellow traveler.# hundreds of reviews#
