According to Fitch Solutions forecasts, by 2025, one in six electric vehicles sold in Europe will be made in China.

According to Fitch Solutions, Chinese EV makers could capture 18% of the European market in the next three years. As a result, by 2025, one in every six cars sold here will be produced by a Chinese EV maker, up from about 3 percent today. In the first seven months of this year, Chinese companies sold just 37,000 electric vehicles in Europe.

Phoebe O'Hara, an analyst at Fitch Solutions, said Chinese cars are affordable and Western manufacturers can't offer enough electric vehicles. "The huge supply from China means they can fill a gap in that market," she said.

A global comparison from 2015 to the first half of this year shows that only Chinese-made EVs have seen a big drop in prices, while EVs in the US and Europe have risen sharply.

Chinese EV makers are increasingly focusing on overseas markets to expand their global footprint. Last year, Great Wall Motors announced that it would start selling Ora EV models in Europe. Ora Cat models are priced at around 30,000 euros ($29,350), while the average selling price is 55,000 euros. On October 17 this year, at the Paris Auto Show, Great Wall Motor's Wei brand Mocha PHEV (Coffee 01) and Ora Haomao were officially announced to be launched in Europe. Among them, Wei brand Mocha PHEV (Coffee 01) was priced at about RMB 390,000-420,000 yuan.

BYD also launched three all-electric models for the European market in September, with pre-orders starting at 38,000 euros in Germany . At the same time, at the NIO Berlin 2022 event, NIO announced the start of providing services in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. NIO released three models at the same time, namely the European debut of EL7 (ie domestic ES7), ET7 and ET5, and released product prices.

“These brands have been in the metal mining space for the past decade. This insulates them from the volatility we see in the metals market,” O’Hara said.

Prices of batteries metals such as copper and nickel have surged to record levels this year as the West has imposed economic sanctions on top supplier Russia . Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers, including BYD, which invests in metals mining, were less affected by the price surge.

In September 2022, the global sales of new energy vehicles will exceed 1 million, with BYD ranking first with sales exceeding 200,000, followed by Tesla with sales reaching 190,000. In the first nine months, the global sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 6,815,282 units, of which BYD's sales exceeded 1.17 million units and Tesla's sales exceeded 909,000 units.

If growth continues at this rate, global sales of new energy passenger vehicles are expected to reach 10 million units in 2022.

Fitch Solutions also predicts that global electric vehicle sales will reach 10.4 million in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 74.9%. In China, sales are expected to reach 6.7 million units, an increase of 102%. Electric vehicle sales in China will continue to grow and are expected to reach 25.8 million units by 2031, accounting for 43% of total global sales.

Competition in Europe will be more intense as more Chinese brands enter the European market. "We believe Chinese EV makers will grow strongly in Europe over the next decade," O'Hara said.