A Comparative Study on the Policies and Sales of Electric Vehicles between China and the United States

Due to the development of the economy, people’s environmental awareness and the responsibility of being a global citizen has significantly raised. Therefore, energy transition is taken into account to reduce carbon emission and achieve sustainable development. Among all these, the electrification of transportation is the most essential one. Electric vehicles (EV) are being actively produced and purchased in many countries. China and the United States are two countries who have representative market characteristics and government behaviors in EV promotion. In general, China currently takes the leading place, while in the USA, the EV industry is also developing fast. China has the world biggest EV market, taking nearly 60% of global EV sales, driven by a large consumer base and dominant industry players like BYD and CATL. China’s rapid EV development focusing on affordability is further supported by a well-established manufacturing ecosystem, which benefits from low production costs, advanced technology, and a highly integrated supply chain. At the same time, the US dominated high-quality EV production with federal tax incentives and private investment. Furthermore, the US government is also acting efficiently to complete the domestic EV manufacturing sector. As for the future growing trend, China will probably focus on cost-effective production to further benefit on affordability. And for the US, innovation and tech-advancement might be the main target of EV market development.