According to customs data, exports of Chinese-made solar cells hit 1.7bn units in March, a record high for a single month. Demand in March and April was led by south-east Asia and Africa, highlighting how swaths of the oil-dependent developing world have emerged as key markets for low-cost Chinese renewable energy technologies. Battery-powered vehicles, from two-wheelers and cars to buses and trucks, have also benefited. When the FT visited Yadea, the world’s largest producer of battery-powered scooters and motorcycles, at its headquarters in Wuxi, executives said overseas demand was tracking about
than a year ago.
At Sany, one of China’s top producers of electric trucks, executives also pointed to a more than 70 per cent year-on-year increase in industry-wide sales since the war started. The company said that with diesel prices high, electric trucks can recoup their extra purchase cost within 12 to 14 months. “We have to thank Trump. He created an opportunity for us,” Huang Tie, deputy general manager of the group’s truck manufacturing unit, told the FT.