"I have been looking at Chinese EVs in great detail. They are reasonably well built."
You can't just say that is a good car and well built by just looking at it. I also checked a BYD Atto car couple of months ago. The seats and everything on it were quite good looking and shinny. However I was looking to the part under the bonnet and chassis in detail. I didn't like the quality (and I have a mech eng B.Sc. background). I saw the body panels were glued in some areas and glue was frozen around the joints by excessive flowing. I asked the rep what it was, the guy said "it happens". That's BS.
Good quality seats and fancy look are not making a car good quality, there are many other more important factors which make a car good one. For example I always drive Toyota but I know Honda has better quality parts than Toyota, however Honda parts are much more expensive and harder to find than Toyota parts in aftermarket. So Toyota ticks the all boxes for me.
Most of the Chinese cars at their infancy. Those cars should go through the years of driving in rough roads, weathers, UV lights etc. We don't know if their spare parts will be easily available. That's why I wouldn't buy them for now. I prefer to buy Hyundai or Kia.
I'm not against the Chinese goods in general, or I'm not anti Chinese at all either. I'm against the cheap and dangerous batteries and EVs made by Chinese. These batteries and EVs have to be good quality and have to comply with western standards because people will travel with those vehicles and rely on them with their lives.
I'm living those problems myself. I will buy a sailboat and I will setup a very good energy system on it. Everything will be solar and electric including cooking. I have done a lot of research about it and already bought all necessary parts (Victron devices) other than batteries. Victron is a Netherland brand but also made in China. Victron has lithium batteries but they are quite expensive as they are made by very high standards. I was looking for other lithium batteries but they are all Chinese brands. I decided to buy Victron lithium batteries by paying the price. I wouldn't put a lithium battery in my boat which is made by Chinese standards because fire is the most dangerous thing on the sea.
The idiotic saying of
@ray1988 "...yeah they might have done some dirty jobs but who doesn't at initial stage? besides they are not aiming someone in person" does not mean anything to me. That is exactly the feudal peasant mentality who doesn't know anything about commerce and business.
Not all lithium is equal, and yes not all Chinese is equal too.For example I am carefully watching Xiaomi EVs now because I trust Xiaomi as I'm using a lots of devices made by Xiaomi. Xiaomi is on the EV market now too.
But their EVs are not cheap at all. Tesla is cheaper than Xiaomi I guess. Polestar is another example.
That's the point. When you make a good quality product with a lots of research, test and development it's not being cheap.
Another example, DJO drones, it's a Chinese brand and company; Da Jiang Innovations. I have one too. it's founded in 2006. It has become the world’s largest drone maker, having achieved global dominance in less than 20 years. The company now supplies 70% of the world's consumer drones and nearly 80% of U.S. consumer drones. Very good quality and no one talks bad about DJI.
So again, Chinese battery makers have to use quality lithium in their batteries whether they buy it from us or from somewhere else. Human life comes first,. Money comes next IMO.
(20min delay)