Chinese Economy Watch

China’s EV Catches Fire, Burning an Entire Street! Car Show Chaos, Four EVs Smashed



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0LHoBn-KDE
A devastating electric vehicle fire occurred on April 12 in Rongxian County, Yulin, Guangxi, destroying an entire street. A user alleged that a BYD Seagull’s charging pile exploded, stating, “Please investigate immediately. My neighbor’s BYD was charging overnight. Early on April 12, a loud explosion woke us, and smoke engulfed the neighbor’s house. Within ten minutes, our home was destroyed. My family of five, including a one-year-old, escaped via a second-floor window, losing all valuables.” Three days later, The Paper linked the fire to EV charging, but the fire department denied any EV connection. Media found the street sealed, with locals saying, “A fire occurred, but the cause can’t be discussed.” The user’s post was quickly deleted.
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Chinese, Finnish firms launch Finland's 1st cathode active material plant​

(Xinhua) 08:38, April 30, 2025
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Excavators and trucks work at the construction site of a lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant in Kotka, Finland, on April 29, 2025. Chinese and Finnish companies broke ground Tuesday on Finland's first lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant, a project aimed at boosting Europe's battery supply chain. The plant, located in the southeastern coastal city of Kotka, will be operated by Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, a joint venture between Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd. and Finnish Minerals Group. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

HELSINKI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Finnish companies broke ground Tuesday on Finland's first lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant, a project aimed at boosting Europe's battery supply chain.

The plant, located in the southeastern coastal city of Kotka, will be operated by Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, a joint venture between Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd. and Finnish Minerals Group.

Scheduled to begin operation in 2027, the plant is expected to manufacture CAMs essential for lithium-ion batteries for European and global battery manufacturers. It is designed for an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes - enough to supply cathodes for 500,000 to 800,000 electric vehicles, depending on battery size, according to Easpring Finland New Materials Oy.

The project involves an investment of around 800 million euros (about 911.40 million U.S. dollars) and is anticipated to create around 270 jobs in the initial production phase. Ramboll, a firm specializing in architecture, engineering, and consultancy, said the project is projected to generate more than 180 million euros in annual tax revenue and contribute nearly 400 million euros to Finland's GDP.

Speaking at the ceremony, Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman emphasized the importance of the project's shift toward clean energy. He said that this facility will play a vital role in advancing sustainable energy, as the production of CAM is essential to the development of green solutions, from mobility to energy storage.

Chen Yanbin, chairman of Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd., called the project a "milestone" in expanding battery material production in Europe. Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group, said the plant would strengthen Finland's battery value chain, support Europe's electrification goals, create thousands of new jobs, and boost local economic growth.

During the ceremony, representatives buried a cement bucket as a time capsule at the construction site of the plant. It contains today's local newspaper, Finnish and Chinese coins, project documents, and copies of speeches - a symbolic gesture to mark the project's long-term significance. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollar)

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Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group, displays the minerals required to produce cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries in Kotka, Finland, on April 29, 2025. Chinese and Finnish companies broke ground Tuesday on Finland's first lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant, a project aimed at boosting Europe's battery supply chain. The plant, located in the southeastern coastal city of Kotka, will be operated by Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, a joint venture between Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd. and Finnish Minerals Group. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

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People attend a groundbreaking ceremony of a lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant in Kotka, Finland, on April 29, 2025. Chinese and Finnish companies broke ground Tuesday on Finland's first lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) plant, a project aimed at boosting Europe's battery supply chain. The plant, located in the southeastern coastal city of Kotka, will be operated by Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, a joint venture between Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd. and Finnish Minerals Group. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)
 
China’s EV Catches Fire, Burning an Entire Street! Car Show Chaos, Four EVs Smashed




View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0LHoBn-KDE
A devastating electric vehicle fire occurred on April 12 in Rongxian County, Yulin, Guangxi, destroying an entire street. A user alleged that a BYD Seagull’s charging pile exploded, stating, “Please investigate immediately. My neighbor’s BYD was charging overnight. Early on April 12, a loud explosion woke us, and smoke engulfed the neighbor’s house. Within ten minutes, our home was destroyed. My family of five, including a one-year-old, escaped via a second-floor window, losing all valuables.” Three days later, The Paper linked the fire to EV charging, but the fire department denied any EV connection. Media found the street sealed, with locals saying, “A fire occurred, but the cause can’t be discussed.” The user’s post was quickly deleted.
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View: https://youtu.be/Xuv87xMDBho?si=qkp6w_jRgfkJuWHr
 
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s if China’s solar panels and equipment companies haven’t already been reeling from low product prices and overcapacity, the U.S.-China trade war and the triple-digit tariffs are adding insult to injury to the profitability of the Chinese solar manufacturing industry.

All top Chinese solar equipment producers booked losses for the first quarter of the year, and blamed the continued losses on low product prices and the trade and tariff turbulence with the new U.S. President Donald Trump.

JinkoSolar, for example, booked a net loss of $181.7 million for the first quarter of 2025.

“Prices across the main segments of the solar industrial chain were low in the first quarter. This, combined with disruptions in demand caused by changes in international trade policies, pressured profit margins in each segment of the integrated solar supply chain,” Xiande Li, JinkoSolar’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“Due to a year-over-year decline in shipments to the U.S. market and a continued decline in higher-price overseas orders, our module prices and profitability decreased both year-over-year and sequentially.”


Crunch time ahead for China’s solar panel producers as Trump’s 3,521% ‘shock’ tariffs loom​

Chinese firms have been exporting from offshore factories to beat US tariffs for a decade, and Washington is determined to shut the loophole

 
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At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, the US president said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”

What is the ‘de minimis’ loophole?
“De minimis” refers to a trade policy introduced in the 1930s that allowed travellers returning to the US to bring goods with them worth up to $5 without declaring them to customs. Since 2016, the threshold has been $800 (£600).

The term “de minimis” may mean “of little importance”, but the policy is responsible for a huge volume of consumer goods. About 1.36bn shipments entered the US via the loophole in the fiscal year 2024, more than double the number four years earlier, according to the US customs agency. That represents more than 90% of all the cargo entering the US. About 60% of those packages come from China.


As of Friday, parcels worth less than $800 will be subject to a 120% levy or a flat fee of $100, rising to $200 from June. That is on top of the 145% tariffs already placed on all Chinese imports, as part of the wider US-China trade war.

Why is Trump closing the ‘de minimis’ loophole?
The White House has accused sellers in China of “deceptive shipping practices” to take advantage of the loophole. Industry associations in the US have complained of unfair competition from Chinese sellers and have been pushing for years for the loophole to be closed.

Trump also argues that the free flow of small packages into the US has allowed deadly drugs, especially fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it, to arrive unchecked into the country. “These exports play a significant role in the synthetic opioid crisis in the United States,” Trump said in an executive order in April.

What does it mean for buying cheap goods in the US?
Prices will probably increase. Cheap retailers like Shein and Temu, which have their roots in China, have reportedly already started increasing the prices of some goods. Data compiled by Bloomberg found that the average price for the top 100 products sold by Shein in the beauty and health category increased by 51% in the past week, while a 10-piece set of kitchen towels increased in price by 377%. The average increase for women’s clothing was 8%.


Related: Amazon reports better-than-expected earnings despite tumult of Trump tariffs

A spokesperson for Temu said the company had recently transitioned to a local fulfilment model, meaning that all US sales are handled by sellers from within the US. “Despite the operational shift, Temu’s pricing for US consumers remains unchanged,” the company said.

Will it stop the flow of fentanyl into the US?
The White House says that the US customs agency apprehended more than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl at the border in the last fiscal year, enough to kill 4 billion people. It is hoped that increased checks on small packages will allow more illicit imports to be apprehended.

Before 2020, the year after China cracked down on fentanyl suppliers, 90% of the fentanyl consumed in the US came directly from China. Now nearly all of the supply comes across the US-Mexico border, not from packages shipped directly from China.

How has China reacted?
China’s government and trade associations say the pain will be felt by American consumers rather than Chinese exporters. He Yongqian, a spokesperson for the commerce ministry, said earlier this year that the US tariff hikes “will undoubtedly increase costs for American consumers and degrade their shopping experience”.


Industry groups, including the China textiles association, have backed the government’s position and accused the US of “hegemonic actions”, according to Chinese state media.

Shein is reportedly considering pausing its widely anticipated London IPO, amid uncertainty around how the tariffs will affect its business. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

JD.com, one of China’s e-commerce companies, has promise to buy 2bn yuan (£206.6m) worth of products from Chinese exporters to sell in the domestic market.

 
On the 2nd, it was learned from the Three Gorges Corporation that the rotor hoisting of Unit 1 of the Three Gorges Corporation's Tiantai Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang Province, a key project to be implemented during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, was successfully completed today. This marks the beginning of the assembly stage for the largest single-unit capacity pumped storage unit in China and lays the foundation for the first unit to be put into operation by the end of this year.

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The rotor of the Tiantai Pumped Storage Power Station unit has a diameter of approximately 5 meters and weighs 481 tons. It is not only one of the core components of the unit but also the component with the largest hoisting weight during the installation process. During the hoisting process, the huge rotor, under the joint lifting of two bridge cranes, moved horizontally for about 120 meters for over an hour and was finally safely, smoothly and precisely placed in the designated position.

MAO Langfei, the section chief of the Zhejiang Tiantai Electromechanical Installation Project Department of China Hydropower 14th Bureau, introduced that during the hoisting process, the engineering team needs to control the deviation of the rotor center within 0.1 millimeters. The horizontal deviation is controlled at 0.02 millimeters, which is equivalent to one-third of the diameter of a human hair. To this end, engineers adopted technologies such as three-dimensional laser positioning and electrical measurement methods for strict control, achieving precise positioning of the rotor in one go, with all indicators meeting the requirements of a high-quality project.



It is understood that the Tiantai Pumped Storage Power Station has installed a total of four pump-turbine generator sets with a single-unit capacity of 425 megawatts, and the total installed capacity is 1,700 megawatts. This unit has the largest single-unit capacity in China. Not only does it lead the world in various technical indicators, but it has also developed and applied a number of key technologies such as the new process structure design of the vane rotor, 3D printing and casting, numerical control processing, and assembly and welding. It is a landmark achievement for China's pumped storage units to move towards high-end development.

It is learned that according to the construction plan, the first unit of the Tiantai Pumped Storage Power Station will be put into operation and generate electricity by the end of this year. With the rotor of the first unit successfully hoisted, the construction of the power station has entered a crucial sprint stage.
 

'Chinese wisdom' underpins nation's hydrogen efforts​

China has emerged as the global leader in renewable hydrogen production capacity, accounting for over half of the world's total installed capacity last year, according to a government official.

In 2024, global installed capacity for renewable energy-based hydrogen projects surpassed 250,000 metric tons per annum, with China accounting for over 50 percent, positioning itself as a leading region in the development of global renewable hydrogen and related industries, said Bian Guangqi, deputy director of the National Energy Administration's energy saving and technology equipment department.

The NEA has reaffirmed its commitment to fostering high-quality development of the hydrogen industry, recognizing China's pioneering role in renewable hydrogen and related industrial growth.

China has been actively promoting collaboration across the hydrogen value chain, supply chain, and innovation ecosystem in recent years, while also participating in the development of international standards and certification systems, contributing "Chinese wisdom" to the global energy transition, he said.

Bian said the country's first energy law, which took effect on Jan 1, officially places hydrogen energy on an equal footing with traditional energy sources.

This legal recognition signals the government's resolve to advance hydrogen and transform its energy structure, while also setting a clear direction for improving the industry's regulatory system and raising expectations for industry development and management, he said.

According to a plan jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the NEA, China is planning to have around 50,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles and a batch of hydrogen fueling stations by 2025.

Latest figures released by the China Hydrogen Alliance show that China's hydrogen demand will surge to 60 million tons by 2050, creating a 12 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion) industry. This would make hydrogen a significant energy source, representing over 10 percent of China's total energy consumption.

However, despite this progress, significant hurdles persist, including the insufficient economic viability of hydrogen applications. Technological innovation also needs further strengthening while gaps still exist in fundamental regulatory frameworks, hindering the sector's full potential, said Bian.

To address the existing constraints and propel the sector forward, Bian said the administration will step up increased policy support, further clarifying hydrogen industry development goals and pathways, and advancing coordinated development across the entire hydrogen value chain from production to storage, transportation, and utilization.

The government body will also accelerate technological innovation to support the energy technology innovation platforms, key technology breakthroughs, and integrated application demonstrations, fostering the integration of technology and industrial development.

Efforts will also be made to guide local governments in establishing robust hydrogen project management norms, continuously improve hydrogen standards and certification systems, and promote the standardized development of the hydrogen industry, he said.

These measures signal China's intention to not only maintain its leading position in renewable hydrogen but also to address the critical challenges hindering the sector's broader commercial success and contribution to its energy transition goals, he said.

Ma Yongsheng, chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, currently the largest hydrogen producer in China, stressed that the hydrogen industry is still very much in its infancy, implying substantial room for future growth and maturation.

Ma pinpointed the high production cost of green hydrogen as a primary challenge, yet simultaneously highlighted it as an opportunity for innovation. He explained that while current green hydrogen production costs are relatively elevated, this presents a significant area for improvement.

Advancements in crucial materials and technologies, he suggested, hold the key to enhancing production efficiency and driving down these costs.

The energy giant has been actively advancing its hydrogen energy infrastructure, having built 11 hydrogen fuel cell supply centers nationwide in addition to 142 hydrogen refueling stations across the country, integrating hydrogen production and refueling capabilities to promote the adoption of hydrogen energy.

Ma addressed the current state of hydrogen standards and regulations, noting their imperfection and incompleteness. This regulatory gap, he argued, underscores a critical need to deepen international scientific and technological cooperation.

Enhanced global collaboration in research and development is essential to establish robust and effective standards and regulations that can support the sustainable and safe growth of the hydrogen sector, he added.
 

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QjI1kzt7L8

Under the impact of Trump’s tariff policies, China’s export shipping volume has taken a significant hit, dropping by 50%. According to the latest data from the shipping intelligence platform LineRetica, cargo shipments from China to the U.S. fell by half in just one month, with trans-Pacific routes nearly coming to a halt. In response to this dramatic decline, shipping companies have been forced to suspend services.
 

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