China’s Abandoned, Obsolete EVs Are Piling Up in Cities

The demand helped juice an industry that has grown exponentially ever since. China is now the world leader in clean cars, producing around 6 million EVs and plug-in hybrids last year, or almost one in every three new cars sold domestically. It accounts for 60% of the world’s current electric fleet, and has the most extensive EV charging infrastructure on Earth — also built with government support.

The graveyards are a troubling consequence of that consolidation. Not only are the sites an eyesore, getting rid of EVs so quickly reduces their climate benefit considering they’re more emissions-intensive to build and only produce an advantage over combustion cars after a few years.

China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

A subsidy-fueled boom helped build China into an electric-car giant but left weed-infested lots across the nation brimming with unwanted battery-powered vehicles.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Watts_Up]

Also, near Casa Grande...

 

[wwu123]

I would consider those few hundred to 1000+ vehicles more casualties of startup business cycles than anything indicative of long-term EV adoption patterns, those EV cars in China were abandoned because they were mainly designed for ride-hailing businesses, not consumer ownership. And they yet may have had some value in private ownership, but those failing businesses didn't bother to try to salvage any value out of the vehicles before going under.

Similar to Fisker Karma in the U.S., which let 300 of their brand-new PHEV's drown at a New Jersey port during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, none ever owned or driven, since they were going out of business soon anyways....

 

[DblOSmith]

Redwood Industries looking like...

 

[APotatoGod]

I want to adopt one! Sad that there's probably no logistical way to do so, and hence they go to waste

 

[Bouba]

There is quite a trade in exporting second hand cars from Japan... I can only assume that some entrepreneur will realize the potential of China’s used cars

 

[BigNick]

There is quite a trade in exporting second hand cars from Japan... I can only assume that some entrepreneur will realize the potential of China’s used cars

For ICE vehicles, I think a non-US-spec import must be 25 years old before it can be brought to the USA. I would assume this regulation includes EVs as it was written before the existence of EVs.

At least they weren't crushed like almost every EV1 GM ever produced, so they might still be exportable/usable.

 

[unk45]

For ICE vehicles, I think a non-US-spec import must be 25 years old before it can be brought to the USA. I would assume this regulation includes EVs as it was written before the existence of EVs.

At least they weren't crushed like almost every EV1 GM ever produced, so they might still be exportable/usable.

To be fair, not really almost all:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/how-many-gm-ev1s-remain/

 

[BigNick]

To be fair, not really almost all:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/how-many-gm-ev1s-remain/

So at least three dozen still exist. Far more than I knew about (I knew of the Smithsonian example that GM did not disable.)

 

[unk45]

I knew of two, but this was enlightening. FWIW, I drove one briefly in Torrance, California but was not too impressed since I'd driven a Honda EV earlier that day. Those did play a role since had they not happened it's less likely that Marc Tarpenning, Martin Eberhard and Ian Wright might not have gambled on those little Panasonic video camera/modem batteries en masse to power a car.

It's shocking still to know my Model S Plaid is still powered by the Panasonic 18650's, albeit radically improved in everything apart from the format.

Anyway, we probably can thank CARB for our TSLA shares, in an ancestral way.

 

[PKMAN]

The Chinese abandoned EVs phenomenon is pretty much a scam; each EV is "sold" and "registered" with full government subsidies received for each vehicle. EV manufacturers receive further subsidies and incentives from local and central government for achieving sales target.

These are the things that wouldn't fly in the US or other modern/advance countries but are the norm in the PRC.

 

[Evpowerdan]

None of this should shock anyone. There is a massive focus on building and selling EV's, not on recycling at this time. Going green is more that EV, going green and reducing a carbon footprint is hold on to your vehicle or anything in general longer - much longer. Not the 3 year lease and get a new one - thats so anti-green.

 

[Art84]

Not the 3 year lease and get a new one - that's so anti-green.

It does not mean that after a 3-year lease vehicle goes to the scrap yard. It's just sold to a new owner, with a cheaper price and continues its function but for the next owner. And it goes on and on until the "death cross" when maintaining/fixing the vehicle is more expensive than buying a newer one.
Will see where this "death cross" will be for a Tesla fleet.

 

[PKMAN]

These abandoned EVs in China are new, hardly (if ever) driven, yet they're "registered" and "sold". That's why it's a scam.

Conventional wisdom is that the manufacturing cost of these EVs should far exceed whatever subsidies/incentives the manufacturers could get so why make and abandon, but then again, this is China. Conventional wisdom doesn't always apply there.

 

[Bouba]

If you can show that you sell a product cheaply in your home market then you can’t be accused of dumping on foreign markets

 

[electric-donut]

With all the flooding in China this past month, it will be interesting to see if any of these EV lots catch on fire. Li-ion batteries and water don't play well together. Time will tell.

 

[timk225]

I've seen video channels on this subject, the Chinese simply make the cars, in some cases the cars are not even complete and drivable, then they just park them in fields. China is scamming the system, as they do in many other things.

If they would actually USE the cars, they might not have the pollution problems they do have. At least it would be a little less.

 

[timk225]

The demand helped juice an industry that has grown exponentially ever since. China is now the world leader in clean cars, producing around 6 million EVs and plug-in hybrids last year, or almost one in every three new cars sold domestically. It accounts for 60% of the world’s current electric fleet, and has the most extensive EV charging infrastructure on Earth — also built with government support.

The graveyards are a troubling consequence of that consolidation. Not only are the sites an eyesore, getting rid of EVs so quickly reduces their climate benefit considering they’re more emissions-intensive to build and only produce an advantage over combustion cars after a few years.

China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

A subsidy-fueled boom helped build China into an electric-car giant but left weed-infested lots across the nation brimming with unwanted battery-powered vehicles.

www.bloomberg.com

People should just go into those lots, take the unwanted cars, and drive them. Get some good out of them.

 

[chinney]

I wonder if China's general economic slowdown has also played some role in this phenomenon. Things are actually pretty shaky there right now on the economic front.

 

[levyharaivan]

I hope that there is a solution to this, even if it's recycling (Redwood where you at?). I agree with most that this could be an effect of the explosion in demand for EVs and some failures will happen