EV makers in China severely affected by strict COVID-19 curbs: Report

According to a recent study by China Passenger Car Association, the country’s strategy to combat COVID-19 has severely affected its electric vehicles factories’ output in March with Tesla Inc.’s operations in Shanghai barely making more cars as compared to the low-production previously recorded in February.

It was found that overall passenger cars sales in March totaled 1.61 million in China, which slumped by 10.9% as compared to last year.

Cui Dongshu, the Secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association stated that due to pandemic measures EV makers produced far lesser cars than expected. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Shanghai factory produced 16% more cars i.e., 154 cars higher in March in contrast with February, the month when workers received paid time off for the Lunar New Year.

Electric vehicle makers are selling from their inventories to support on-time deliveries, Cui confirmed.

For those unaware, China has imposed a strict lockdown to curb the spread of the Omicron variant including places like Shanghai and Jilin province where factories and suppliers of major automakers are located.

Tesla’s Shanghai factory output stood at 68,117 vehicles in January. In mid-March, it suspended its activities for two days on account of Covid controls and later around 28 March due to Shanghai’s lockdown.

The association’s data report cited that Tesla’s export of cars from China fell to 60 units as the demand for domestic deliveries more than doubled from February. At the end of each quarter, Tesla sells fewer cars so that it could satisfy domestic accumulative orders, claimed Cui.

In standard conditions, the Shanghai factory can produce 10,000 Model Y and 6000 Model 3 cars a week for Japanese, German, and Chinese markets. It is also worth noting that some customers hurried to place orders ahead of further increases in price after Tesla announced a price hike due to the high cost of raw materials.

Even the Chinese automaker NIO confirmed that it has suspended its production after China has tightened the safety measures to contain the epidemic surge which resulted in a 9% share drop.

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https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/passenger-vehicle/chinas-covid-curbs-hit-ev-output-including-teslas-data-shows/90772839