China

Global EV sales hit 1.1 million units in February 2026, according to new data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. But the global market is now splitting sharply by region.

Chinese manufacturing and equipment firm Zoomlion looks set for a breakout year – the company has shipped some 15,000 units with a combined value of approximately 8.5 billion yuan (~1.2B), and we’re barely into March (!).

While DC fast charging infrastructure and range anxiety dominate Western EV headlines, Nio’s battery-swap system in China reached a new milestone that proves battery swap tech can rival traditional refueling models at scale: Nio customers performed more than 165,000 battery swaps in single day.

UPDATE 22FEB2026: they beat last week’s record of 165,898 swaps.

The new electric SUV from Audi’s Chinese AUDI brand is being billed as the most important launch in the young company’s history, and it’s set to make its official debut in production form this April – but thanks to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), you can see it right now.

1.2 million EVs were sold globally in January – but the market shrank. Global EV sales fell 3% year-over-year and 44% in January 2026 from December to 1.2 million units, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The slowdown was largely driven by China, where sales dropped after new taxes and weaker incentives kicked in.

Chinese equipment brand Boonray has developed an autonomous, battery-swapping electric mining truck that it hopes will revolutionize the global mining industry – and global EV leader BYD just gave it a multimillion dollar vote of confidence.

Xpeng’s flying car unit Aridge is ramping up its marketing efforts for the new Land Aircraft Carrier designed carry its AeroHT eVTOL “flying car” as it inches closer to production reality.

China has officially moved forward with a proposed ban on flush EV door handles, with an effective date of January 1, 2027. The regulation will force a redesign of many EVs with sleek, electronically-actuated handles, a design popularized by Tesla.

The ultra-fast Xiaomi SU7 Ultra made enough headlines with its astonishing 0-60 sprints and record Nürburgring lap times to drum up around 3,000 sales per month – but the good times seem to have come to an end, and Xiaomi sold just 45 units in December.

It’s been a big week for humanoid robots with a first-ever humanoid to directly connect to a low-Earth orbit satellite from one firm and plans announced to launch a robot into space by another. It seems like the robot space race is on – and China is winning.

Volvo parent company Geely is set to complete production of its first in-house solid-state battery pack in 2026, becoming the latest Chinese electric automaker to announce progress with this next-generation battery tech.

While some companies are making promises, other companies are building hybrid and electric semi trucks. In fact, more than 231,000 electrified work trucks rolled off assembly lines 2025 – and that’s just in China!

Weighing in at just 1,356 kg and packing a 320 kW (~430 hp) electric motor, the Xiaomi-backed JMEV SC01 ditches the extras and keeps the essentials – so if you’re the kind of person that dreams of a self-driving future that lets you pay more attention to your Twitter X feed than the road ahead, this one’s not for you.

But if it is for you, I have fantastic news: this electric roadster is being sold in Europe (and it won’t stop there).

Chinese heavy equipment giant Zoomlion isn’t planning to deploy an army of humanoid robots on its factory floors in the future – they’ve got robots on the job right now. The company is already using these ‘bots to power its “third growth curve,” and they’ve been churning out a new excavator every six minutes for years.

On today’s bitterly cold episode of Quick Charge, Elon says the chip he said was ready six months ago isn’t actually ready, Chinese carmakers make a deal with Canada, and a series of new, real-world studies prove that EVs will save your fleet money over diesel, even in the most extreme cold weather use cases.

Coal experienced a historic decline in China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, in 2025, marking the first time in 52 years that both countries have seen a decline in coal generation at the same time.

Meanwhile, the world’s largest historical polluter, the US, ticked up its use of the worst method of power generation, which coincided with higher energy costs amid an affordability crisis.

As a potential reversal of a significant policy implemented just over a year ago, the Canadian government is reportedly in advanced talks with China to remove or significantly reduce the 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

The reversal comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney looks to stabilize trade relations with Beijing while navigating an increasingly hostile trade war initiated by the Trump administration against… well, everyone.

As long as range anxiety is still a thing, you could make the case that manufacturers posting huge range numbers between stops is only making it worse, convincing hesitant, late-adopters that range is the only stat that matters. That said, with 1600 km (~995 miles) of combined range, the new Buick Electra E7 is an impressive, bladder-busting ride.

Ming Yang Smart Energy says it has rolled out what it’s calling the “world’s first fully recyclable carbon fiber wind turbine blade” — and it’s a big one.

China has brought a massive offshore solar farm online – a full 1 gigawatt of photovoltaic capacity built at sea.

We talk a lot here at Electrek about the exponential growth of electric vehicles and the massive strain that puts on the battery supply chain. Literally, the majority of that demand and production comes from China.

But there is a massive difference between processing materials and actually having them in the ground.

A new image from a gigantic materials mining and recycling company in China, gives us a sobering look at the reality of their domestic reserves. The data suggests that China’s own supply of the most critical battery metals isn’t just running low; in some cases, it’s already gone.