China limits EV battery tech exports

Licence required to transfer technology

- KEITH BRADSHER

The Chinese government said on Tuesday that it would restrict any effort to transfer out of China eight key technologies for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, a move that could cement the country’s already dominant role in the production of electric cars.

The plan could make it harder for Chinese electric carmakers to set up factories overseas, as the European Union has pushed them to do. Effective immediately, any overseas transfer of these technologies through trade, investment or technological cooperation will first require a licence from the Chinese government, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

Chinese manufacturers have achieved important breakthroughs in the past five years in making inexpensive batteries that can provide considerable driving range for electric vehicles. The new generation of battery technology is central to China's success in building electric cars that are considerably cheaper than electric and petrol-powered cars made in other countries.

The European Union has been pressing Chinese automakers and battery manufacturers to set up operations in the bloc as an unofficial condition for continued growth in sales of Chinese cars there. The United States has been more wary of Chinese investment, but plans for at least two Chinese electric car battery factories have been proposed in Michigan.

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