By Chris Black, commercial director at vehicle leasing experts, LeasePlan UK

Chris Black, commercial director at LeasePlan UK

Interest in the Chinese market continues to grow – a study from Carwow found that more than a quarter of buyers would consider a Chinese brand for their next vehicle, despite concerns with familiarity.

China is reaping the rewards of backing EVs early – having made significant investment in R&D into this technology. Around 80% of automotive batteries are made in China, so they have a head start on economies of scale to get the price down, and of course, it means the most expensive components of European EVs aren’t even made in Europe.

Chinese manufacturers have the advantage of a localised supply chain which will take time to match in Europe. Even though there are gigafactories under construction, this is only one element in the supply chain. Currently, European manufacturers are likely to be shipping battery packs from across the world: a costly, potentially dangerous, and very slow cargo.

For example, Build Your Dreams (BYD) was founded as a battery manufacturing company, and the automobile business was later founded in 2003, so hybrid and electric products fit into their portfolio neatly. For a while, they were selling an electric car based on the Mercedes B-Class and had the supply chain and expertise to drive technological advances.

They have also had critical recent innovations such as the Blade Battery. Instead of cells being separated into modules, this uses blade-like cells as a structural part of the pack, which means more of the volume of the battery pack can be used for energy storage – other manufacturers can also use the Blade Battery in their electric cars.

Ultimately, cheaper EVs will make the transition for drivers and fleets more affordable, which is a positive. In turn, it pushes European manufacturers to compete (as they already have with Tesla), but this time on price.

In addition, worries over data security aren’t a China-specific problem and should be a concern regardless of where your vehicles come from. Over-the-air updates enable manufacturers to solve vulnerabilities with onboard software, so it’s essential to ensure drivers stay on top of software updates.

It’s also essential to ensure that personal data is cleared before they are de-fleeted or handed on to other drivers. LeasePlan UK has compiled a guide for drivers to keep their in-vehicle data safe.