There are currently 487 Chinese Electric Car makers, and counting

It’s no secret that this transitional period towards electric cars is a hotbed for new companies to plant their roots, but with 487 Chinese electric automakers and counting, there is going to be a lot of competition.

Coupled with the fact that China has a very aggressive policy towards how many electric cars it wants on the road in the future alongside money being thrown towards EV companies, its no surprise at the staggering amount of electric automakers.

In June, China Construction Bank and the National Development and Reform Commission announced a $47 billion fund for EVs and other high-tech industries. Alongside that, there are regional governments making similar funding commitments. In the past five years, direct government subsidies totaled to $15 billion.

But with so many companies vying to sell their cars, there is a hard truth:

Singulato Chief Executive Shen Haiyin estimates that just 10% of today’s EV startups will survive the next five years. Some auto analysts put the figure nearer to 1%.

“A lot of capital is being invested in this industry,” said Paul Gong, an analyst at UBS. “A lot of it will be wasted.”

It will just be impossible to have every company succeed. Not only will these companies have to battle against each other, but they will have to deal with already well established car companies. Companies like BMW, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz already have factories in China. Tesla just recently signed a deal to build a factory in Shanghai with a 500,000-car capacity.

But out of these 487 (and how ever more get added on) we will have some winners that might make it big. Some of the front runners so far to take a look at are Byton, NIO, and Singulato.

China right now is a hotbed for electric vehicles, last year around 770,000 electric vehicles were sold in China, almost half of the global total. With all this money being thrown by the government towards companies we are bound to get some companies that stay around.

What do you guys think? Are there any of these 487 companies that you are excited about? Let us know down in the comments.

Source: Wall Street Journal