EV News From Foxconn, BYD, & Nigeria

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If you live in the US, you can be forgiven for thinking the EV revolution is over. No one is building new factories to manufacture electric cars. In fact, GM has already announced it will shut down production of the next generation Chevy Bolt about a year after it begins and start building a gasoline-powered Buick on that assembly line instead. No matter how many people raise their hands to say they want a new Bolt, GM will refuse to build a car for them.

Factories that once were expected to make batteries for electric cars are being repurposed to manufacture cells for energy storage instead. The upshot of all this policy madness is that America is becoming a manufacturing backwater while the rest of the world races ahead into the future. America is not becoming great; it is becoming irrelevant.

Elsewhere, the EV revolution is moving forward with all deliberate speed. A perfect example is a news item this week from Reuters that says Foxconn, the manufacturing powerhouse based in Taiwan, has opened a research and development center for electric vehicles in Zhengzhou, China. The new facility began operations on February 4, 2026, and expects to reduce the production cycle for new models to 24 months.

Most CleanTechnica readers, being well above average, know that product development cycles, which often take 5 years or more elsewhere, take half of that or less in China. That is why companies like BYD, Nio, and Xpeng can bring a constant parade of new models to market. In fact, the phenomenon even has a name. It is called “moving at China speed.”

The local government in Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, claims the site will focus on next generation electric vehicles, new electric architectures, and intelligent driving technologies. Electrive speculates the new facility is probably the same one that started construction in July of 2024. That factory was described at the time as a pilot manufacturing center for electric vehicles and was intended to supply “well-known domestic and international automotive brands.”

In other words, it is meant to promote Foxconn’s ambition to become a key contract manufacturer for electric vehicles, mirroring the production model it has long used in the smartphone sector. Foxconn has been manufacturing the iPhone for Apple for many years at a factory near the new electric vehicle center in Zhengzhou.

Foxconn is also building a headquarters for its New Business division in that city. That facility will focus on the company’s “3+3 Strategy,” which focuses on three new business areas — electric vehicles, digital health, and robotics — and three key technologies — AI, next-generation communications, and semiconductors.

Contract Manufacturing

Foxconn has been targeting the automotive industry for years and has already developed several battery-electric vehicle prototypes under the Foxtron brand for potential customer vehicles. It is very much like Magna International, the Canadian manufacturing giant that builds nothing with the Magna name on it but manufacturers dozens of low volume vehicles for other companies. At one time, Foxconn was going to build the Ocean electric SUV for Fisker before the company went bust for a second time.

What is interesting about the new Foxconn facility in China is the tension swirling around the status of Taiwan, thanks to The Doofus running his mouth at every opportunity and destabilizing international relations to the point where China has been conducting live fire military drills just off the coast of Taiwan and daring the US to do anything about it. Xi Jinping has publicly reiterated his intention to reunify Taiwan with mainland China, although when is always left open.

My colleague Larry Evans is better informed on such matters than I am, having traveled to China and Taiwan on several occasions. But to the casual outside observer, Foxc0nn seems to either be putting its China-based assets at risk if Xi follows through with his reunification plans or making bold plans to be an indispensable part of the Chinese economy going forward. Either way, the company is putting a lot of capital at risk. Plotting a course that minimizes those risks is not for the faint of heart.

BYD Deepens Its Push Into The New Car Market In India

As we reported recently, BYD is planning to bring its electric cars to India as soon as possible — a difficult task, since India imposes significant tariffs on imported cars, especially those from China. It also has two large and politically powerful domestic manufacturers — Mahindara & Mahindra and Tata (which owns Jaguar Land Rover) — it wants to protect from foreign competition.

To smooth its entry into the Indian market, BYD is planning to offer a model designed specifically for the needs of local customers. Stella Li, the globetrotting executive vice president of BYD, announced recently at the World Government Summit in Dubai that BYD has begun design work on the India-specific vehicle at its headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

“My team is working on this, but there is still work to be done,” Li said, without sharing a specific launch timeline. She also revealed that BYD will use mechanical door handles on the cars it exports to India in the future. China has announced such door handles will be required on cars sold domestically beginning in  2027. “India is a market for us, but we need to make more of an effort,” Li said, putting a spotlight on India’s importance to its global sales strategy.

Li did not talk about the body style or technical specifications of the future model. Designing and engineering a new vehicle from the ground up would require a significant investment, which is unlikely to be recoverable in the absence of manufacturing cars in India. Since BYD has no plans to set up a complete manufacturing facility in India, the company is likely to adapt an existing model.

BYD has been testing the Atto 2 on India roads for the past 8 months or so, which suggests that could be the car Li was referring to. The Atto 2 would fit nicely into India’s midsize SUV segment, which is extremely popular and experiencing strong growth. The company produces the Atto 2 in plug-in hybrid and pure electric variants, but it is likely the battery-electric version will be prioritized for the Indian market, since there are no local incentives for plug-in hybrids.

Importing the Atto 2 in complete knockdown form and assembling it locally would not require a full factory and would save about 95% of the tariffs that would apply if the cars were fully assembled in China.

Nigeria & South Korea Strike A Deal

Nigeria has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Asia Economic Development Committee to establish an electric vehicle manufacturing plant and construct a nationwide charging infrastructure. The project has a planned annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, which would create about 10,000 local jobs.

According to the National Automotive Design and Development Council in Nigeria, the agreement will “accelerate technology transfer, promote investment in the country, and create research, design, and innovation opportunities.” The goal for Nigeria is to establish a sustainable automotive ecosystem that supports local manufacturing and an increase in electric mobility. According to local media, Nigeria currently imports several hundred thousand vehicles each year, the majority of which are used cars with gasoline and diesel engines.

At the end of last year, the Nigerian Senate passed the Electric Vehicle Transition and Green Mobility Bill, 2025, which promotes local production of electric vehicles, the creation of jobs for locals, and mandates a nationwide charging infrastructure. That legislation imposed strict requirements on foreign car manufacturers, created tax incentives, and provided a coordinated legal framework to implement its policy initiatives.

The takeaway from all the EV news this week is that the switch to electric mobility is happening in small ways all around the world — except in the US. It’s almost as if the current administration is King Cnute sitting on his throne at the edge of the sea and commanding the tide not to ride.

In the end, the US will simply look weak and ridiculous as its leader gavottes in front of a mirror in his faux Louis XIV gilt-edged mansion — proof beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no fool like an old fool. Squandering American leadership to salve the wounded ego of a madman will come at a terrible cost. MAGA is nothing more than a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,