Japan plans to sign a memorandum of cooperation on storage battery supply chains with Canada, an industry ministry official said on Thursday, confirming a report that Tokyo will step up collaboration with the North American country in this area…The Nikkei newspaper first reported that Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura will visit Canada from early as Sept. 21 to sign an agreement for cooperation on storage battery supply chains with Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson…The move would testify to Japan’s resolve to make its supply chains more diverse…Nikkei said Japan’s public and private sectors would build a supply chain in Canada by exploration and processing of critical minerals for EVs and production of storage batteries.

The number of Chinese-made electric cars going to Europe has soared in recent months, prompting the European Union to earlier this week announce an investigation into whether those vehicles are being unfairly subsidized…Essentially, subsidies and support for any industry in China are usually a mix of payments and benefits at local, provincial and national levels. It’s almost impossible to get a complete picture of how much is being paid, however even an incomplete accounting shows the benefits can be extensive, ranging from preferential treatment such as cheap land or capital to policies that outright exclude foreign competitors…1. Tax breaks…Perhaps the largest quantifiable financial aid are tax breaks when buying an electric car. Almost all EVs sold in China are exempt from a vehicle purchase tax, making them more affordable for drivers, which then boosts overall consumer demand and revenue for automakers…2. Production subsidies…The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) pays car companies subsidies based on the number of EVs they produce. Through the end of last year, it had paid almost 39 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) to subsidize the production of around 3.76 million new-energy vehicles, according to Bloomberg calculations based on MIIT’s latest subsidy review. About 31 billion yuan of that was paid just last year to 49 eligible car companies, with BYD getting the most, followed by Tesla…3. Cheap land, loans and grants…As the EV industry took off in China, governments at all levels provided cheap loans, land and grants to companies to try and boost their local economies…Beijing has also helped pay for the roll-out of charging infrastructure across China, with the country’s economic planning agency pledging to subsidize public chargers to meet demand from over 20 million new-energy vehicles by the end of 2025…4. R&D help…Research and development subsidies are paid mainly at the provincial or local level, and include special grants for key technologies and development of new-energy vehicles and core parts. They’re paid for new model development, rebates for equipment procurement, and tax incentives…5. Bulk purchasing…China’s EV sector has also got a boost from government procurement, with cities across the nation buying fleets of domestically produced electric buses and cars, which again has provided a steady revenue stream for Chinese manufacturers. 

Indonesia has asked Chinese carmaker Geely Automotive Holdings to help it build a homegrown electric car by 2025 or 2026, a senior minister said on Tuesday, adding that the automaker has agreed…"I have offered Geely, do you want to make cars in Indonesia, but be an Indonesian brand and do the research in Indonesia? They said yes," Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who oversees regulations on natural resources and investment, told a seminar…The offer would be packaged with Indonesia supplying nickel ore to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries, but the research must be led by Indonesia, he said…Indonesia has been trying to court EV makers to invest in the country, offering access to its rich nickel reserves, a key component of EV batteries. But it has had mixed success so far. On Monday, Vietnamese EV company VinFast said it plans to invest around $1.2 billion in Indonesia in the long term, including for a plant that is targeted to start production in 2026.

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast plans to expand in seven more markets in Asia, including Indonesia where it aims to start deliveries from next year and establish a plant in 2026…VinFast, formed and almost entirely controlled by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam's richest man and founder of parent conglomerate Vingroup, aims to invest around $1.2 billion in the Indonesian market in the long-term, according to its latest filing to the to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission…Of that, up to $200 million would be for its Indonesian plant, targeting production in 2026 with an output of 30,000 to 50,000 units each year…Indonesia, a country of 270 million people and Southeast Asia's biggest economy, is on a drive to attract global EV makers, touting its abundant supplies of nickel, a key component of EV batteries. However, EVs currently account for less than 1% of cars on its roads…The Indonesian facility will be VinFast's third besides its main one in northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong, and a new plant in North Carolina, slated to start in 2025…The EV maker also said in its filing that it planned to create a presence in India, Malaysia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America and expand its presence in Europe as it identified between 40 and 50 potential markets.

Tata Motors Ltd. is designing new dealerships tailored to electric vehicles in India as part of efforts to expand its lead in the rapidly-growing segment…“We felt the need to create a different brand philosophy and personality for EVs,” said Shailesh Chandra, managing director of the company’s passenger vehicle and electric mobility business. “We will start going for exclusive EV dealerships in the coming quarters.” Tata will initially set up a handful of retail stores for electric models under the Tata.ev brand, launched in August, Chandra said at a roundtable with journalists in New Delhi. It is also finalizing an international strategy, which may include exporting battery-powered cars, he said, without naming specific markets…Tata is planning to invest around $2 billion in battery models by 2027. It sold 4,613 electric passenger vehicles — Tigor, Nexon and Tiago EV models — in India last month, up 65% from a year earlier, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations of India.

Volkswagen AG is cutting temporary workers at its main electric-vehicle factory in Germany after the phaseout of a subsidy in the country caused demand for its EVs to drop…The manufacturer is letting go 269 people at the Zwickau plant when their 12-month contracts expire in the near future, VW said Thursday. The company expects it will have to adjust the shift schedule at the facility near the Czech border…The fate of around 2,000 additional temporary staff remains uncertain, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because a final decision hasn’t been made yet…Volkswagen is having a tough time selling enough mostly made-in-Germany electric cars to challenge Tesla Inc.’s global dominance. Lackluster economic growth as well as higher energy, living and borrowing costs in Europe have weighed on demand for its ID fleet of EVs…The German manufacturer has invested €1.2 billion (US$1.3 billion) at Zwickau in recent years and hired more than 3,000 staff, most of them temporary, to meet expected EV demand. But falling corporate orders have clouded the prospects for workers at the site, which makes the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 models…The automaker is following Tesla, BMW AG and others in exporting an EV to Europe from China, where production costs are lower…“Volkswagen remains 100% convinced of the path to electric mobility,” a spokesperson for the carmaker said. “The Zwickau location plays a central role in this.”