POWER PLAY

WITH FACTORIES AND MANUFACTURING DEALS ON NEARLY EVERY CONTINENT, CHINESE BATTERY COMPANIES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD.

- ZEYI YANG

THE SYMBOLISM WAS clear last June when Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by factory workers, held up a sleek lithium battery in his right hand and a mining lamp in his left. He was in Douai, a northern French city with a coal mining history dating back to the 1700s. The city is now also the site of a battery factory, which would allow France to produce all parts of electric vehicles domestically. This factory, Macron declared, represented an "economic and ecological revolution." Macron immediately acknowledged that France didn't pull this off alone: "We brought in investors from the other side of the world. They transferred their technologies. They helped train people," Macron said, gesturing at a man beside him.

The man was Zhang Lei, the founder of Envision, a prominent Chinese company that makes wind turbines and lithium batteries. Its battery arm is investing up to €2 billion in this Douai factory and, more importantly, contributed the expertise for efficient mass production.

He and Macron grabbed markers and signed their names on the first battery produced in Douai. "Thank you, Chairman, because you trusted us and because you did exactly what you said you would do," Macron said, looking straight into Zhang's eyes.