Republican attempts to “slam the brakes” on electric vehicle adoption (Rivero, 2025) combined with President Trump’s trade war with Canada could create an opening for Chinese EVs.
BYD is increasingly looking like it it is producing the EV equivalent of the Ford Model T. For example, this week the Chinese automaker announced a new charging system that takes as little time as filling up a gas tank (Jolly, 2025).
This comes on the heels of BYD beating Tesla in global EV sales for the first time in 2024. “It’s the latest reminder — and an especially stark one — that China is running away with the global EV sector and isn’t looking back,” wrote Tim Levin (2025) of Inside EVs.
EV sales soared more than 40 percent in China last year while fossil-fuel-powered vehicles fell 17 percent (Moritsugu and Soo, 2025). One result: EVs comprised 48 percent of the Chinese auto market. This surpassed the country’s 2030 target of at least 40 percent (Zhang, 2025). Meanwhile, by October China’s share of the global EV market had reached 76 percent despite stiff tariffs from the likes of the U.S. (Hawkins, 2024).
For example, in 2024 Chinese automakers captured the following shares of EV markets: Mexico (70 percent), Brazil (82 percent), Thailand (77 percent) and Indonesia (75 percent), according to Visual Capitalist (Venditti, 2025).
Might trade war lead Canada to embrace Chinese EVs?
Thus far Canada has been following the U.S.’s lead in imposing a 100-percent tariff on Chinese EVs. But with Trump initiating a trade war, Canadian leaders have been looking at how to build more stable trading alliances elsewhere. Kevin Williams (2025) of Inside EVs raises the scenario that Canada could “turn the screws to the U.S. by welcoming Chinese cars into its market.”
Williams (2025) acknowledges that the biggest impediment to such a move could be the Canadian auto industry’s heavy investment in U.S.-oriented production. Chinese cars “wouldn’t be buying batteries from Canada’s supply chain or supporting Canada’s EV production intent.”
Even so, Canadian-built vehicles make up only 8 percent of the U.S. market while roughly half of autos purchased in Canada are from the U.S. So if a trade war persists, that could result in the need for affordable imports from other nations.
Also see ‘Of bold predictions and an increasingly dicey EV future in the U.S.’
In addition, Canada has put in place regulations requiring that 100-percent of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks will be fully electric or plug-in hybrids by 2035 (Ljunggren, 2023). The trade war combined with the Republican gutting of U.S. climate change policies could leave Canada with too big of a production gap to be filled by current domestic producers.
Williams (2025) noted that the Trump administration isn’t helping matters by talking about Canada becoming the 51st state. Tesla CEO Elon Musk added fuel to the fire by reportedly saying that Canada is “not a real country.”
What I wonder is whether Canadian officials might encourage BYD to open a Canadian plant. It is already looking at building a third EV plant in Europe (Johnson, 2025).
“Chinese EVs might not be on Canada’s roads right now, but the way the U.S. is acting, the thought is becoming pretty tempting indeed,” Williams (2025) concludes. Given the way the tectonic plates of the global auto industry have been shifting, what may appear to be unlikely could someday look inevitable.
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RE:SOURCES
- Hawkins, Amy; 2024. “China’s share of global electric car market rises to 76%.” The Guardian. Posted Dec. 3.
- Jolly, Jasper; 2025. “Chinese EV maker BYD says fast-charging system could be as quick as filling up a tank.” The Guardian. Posted March 18.
- Johnson, Peter; 2025. “BYD may have its next power play: Another EV plant in Europe, this time in Germany.” Electrek. Posted March 17.
- Levin, Tim; 2025. “China’s BYD Was The Top EV Maker In 2024, Beating Tesla.” Inside EVs. Posted Jan. 2.
- Ljunggren, David; 2023. “Canada says all cars and trucks must be zero emission by 2035, industry unhappy.” Reuters. Posted Dec. 19.
- Moritsugu, Ken and Zen Soo; 2025. “China’s electric car sales grew in 2024 as sales of gasoline cars plunged.” Associated Press. Posted Jan. 13.
- Rivero, Nicolas; 2025. “The electric-vehicle revolution may be on shakier ground than you think.” Washington Post. Posted March 22.
- Venditti, Bruno; 2025. “Visualizing Chinese EV Market Share Overseas.” Visual Capitalist. Posted Feb. 28.
- Williams, Kevin; 2025. “Why Chinese EVs Could Tempt Canada As America’s Tariff War Rages On.” Inside EVs. Posted March 10.
- Zhang, Yinxing; 2025. “China’s EV Market Set to Maintain Soaring Momentum.” Energy Intelligence. Posted March 19.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- 2023 BYD Atto 3: Photo by Alexander Migl via Wikipedia Creative Commons 4.0.
- 2020 BYD Han: Photo by via 3204 Wikipedia Creative Commons 4.0.
Here are the range and fast charge specs of a BYD, they’re not bad but I’d rent a hybrid for long trips.
https://ev-database.org/car/3102/BYD-SEAL-614-kWh-RWD-Comfort
Also, how will apartment renters charge their vehicles after 2035? Unless a landlord is willing to install chargers at reserved parking and enforce usage by the tenant only, they’re going to be dependent on chargers elsewhere. I can’t even run a power cord out my 2nd floor apt window for fear of it being cut by uncaring landscapers or stolen / vandalized.
The same model as telephone and cable hookups ought to apply. You ought to be able to order a hookup to your parking space without the owner’s permission. Perhaps you should also be able to rent the charging equipment from the electric utility as we used to do with telephone equipment.