BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has taken delivery of two new car-carrying ships – the largest yet in a growing fleet – as it bets on export growth to counter brutal competition at home…The Shenzhen-based company took delivery of its sixth carrier, the BYD Changsha, which can transport 9,200 vehicles, on Tuesday, just three days after it received the Xi’an, another vessel with the same capacity…The company’s six roll on/roll off vessels had a combined capacity of 45,600 vehicles, and another two ships with a combined capacity of 16,200 cars were due for delivery in coming months, BYD said…The Xi’an was put to work immediately; laden with 7,000 EVs, it set sail on Tuesday from Taicang, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, bound for European countries including Italy, the UK, Spain and Belgium, BYD said…BYD exported 374,200 vehicles in the first five months of 2025, up 112 per cent from a year earlier…As its EVs are subject to a 27 per cent tariff in the European Union, BYD’s most affordable model, the Dolphin Surf, starts at €22,990 (US$26,679) on the continent. In mainland China, the same model, known as the Seagull, starts at 69,800 yuan (US$9,726), or about 63 per cent less…In April, BYD sold more pure EVs in Europe than market leader Tesla for the first time, buoyed by the rising popularity of its cheaper models…State-owned SAIC Motor and Chery Automobile, as well as Geely Auto, the country’s second-largest vehicle assembler, have also been aggressively building their own fleets to bolster exports. Shanghai-based SAIC, the Chinese partner of Volkswagen and General Motors, said it had 36 vessels.

Battery output and trade in Germany dropped sharply in 2024 amid a slowdown in the roll-out of electric cars and competition from Asian producers, electronics industry association ZVEI said on Tuesday, asking policymakers to help stem the decline…Market volumes, describing production plus imports minus exports, in the industry fell 16% in 2024 to a total value of 20.5 billion euros ($23.8 billion), mostly due to weaker demand for lithium-ion batteries, which are used in e-mobility…"Decisive political action is needed to prevent Germany from losing further ground as a battery manufacturing location," said Christian Rosenkranz, chairman of ZVEI's battery section and managing director of member firm Clarios Germany…Looking ahead, the underlying expansion of electric vehicles, as the transport sector is being decarbonised, should be ongoing, making a future improvement in li-ion batteries sales likely, said ZVEI…"The megatrends of electrification are intact," said Gunther Kellermann, managing director of the battery section, in a press call…"There are first signs of a recovery in 2025 so that in 2026, I should be able to present a more positive picture than today."…ZVEI executives also said that defence technology, against the background of geopolitical developments, has emerged as an increasingly dynamic area of battery demand.

The US International Development Finance Corp. is finalizing more than $500 million in financing for the Lobito corridor, a railway project that will haul critical minerals from central Africa’s copper belt to an Atlantic port in Angola…The DFC is “actively negotiating” with stakeholders, including the Angolan government and Trafigura Group over the funding, Conor Coleman, head of investments at DFC, told reporters on the sidelines of the US-Africa Business Summit in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on Monday…“We remain very committed to that project overall and we’re working tirelessly to make sure that project is effectuated,” he said…Neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo is also asking the DFC to support plans to rehabilitate a railway line from the country’s copper and cobalt mines around the town of Kolwezi that connects to the corridor, Congolese Transport Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba said…The country is already in talks with the European Union and the European Investment Bank about supporting a public-private partnership to develop the project, Bemba said. A small amount of planned funding for the project from USAID was blocked amid cuts to the agency by the Trump administration earlier this year.