Why thousands of nearly new ELECTRIC CARS are being abandoned in CHINA?

China has become the world leader in the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles. In 2022 it sold 6.8 million units in the country. To get an idea, the United States sold just under 800,000 in the same year. Chinese manufacturing is also booming. More than half of all electric vehicles sold in the world are Chinese brands. In addition, China has the world’s largest charging network. It added 649,000 public chargers in 2022, accounting for more than 70% of all charger installations made in the world that same year. But despite these impressive numbers, we are talking about China. So we have to look beyond the numbers, because according to information from Bloomberg, at least 6 Chinese cities have seen something like car graveyards. In other words, several fields where thousands of nearly new electric vehicles have been abandoned among the weeds and garbage. These images recall the case also of the millions of bicycles that ended up abandoned in rivers and parking lots in 2018. So the questions are why are there thousands of nearly new electric cars abandoned in China? Why are so many electric car companies going out of business in that country? And Why is it so common for China to waste resources in this way?

Some sources:

– Bloomberg (2023). China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2023-china-ev-graveyards/

– Bloomberg (2023). China’s Cutthroat EV Market Is Squeezing Out Smaller Players
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-26/china-s-electric-vehicle-bubble-is-starting-to-deflate

– Bloomberg (2016). Fraud Leaves China’s Electric Car Demand in Doubt
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-21/china-s-electric-car-subsidy-fraud-casts-doubt-on-surging-demand

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