For the second month in a row, China has shipped more than one million vehicles abroad — and electric models are leading the charge.
China exported exactly 1.043 million vehicles in July, according to industry data. What makes this milestone especially striking is that more than half of those cars ran on batteries. Plugin vehicles — which include fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids — accounted for 553,000 of those exports. That number represents a 145.5 percent jump compared to July of the previous year.
The surge in electric vehicle exports is a big deal for the planet. Every battery-powered car that rolls off a ship in another country is one less gasoline guzzler adding pollution to the air. Transportation is one of the biggest sources of climate-changing emissions worldwide, and switching to electric vehicles is one of the quickest ways to cut that pollution.
China's car industry has been investing heavily in electric vehicles over the past decade. The country now builds more electric cars than any other nation, and it's increasingly selling them to buyers across Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. In the first half of this year alone, the value of China's automobile exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative — a global infrastructure and trade network — reached $83.67 billion, a 30.8 percent increase from the same period last year.
Overall vehicle exports from China rose 81.3 percent compared to the same month last year, showing that the electric vehicle boom is lifting the entire industry, not just one segment.
The milestone matters beyond economics. With countries around the world setting goals to phase out gasoline-powered cars, the availability of affordable electric vehicles made in China could help that transition happen faster — especially in developing nations where car buyers are looking for cheaper, cleaner options.
This is a sign that the global shift away from fossil fuels in transportation is gaining real momentum.