Mapping China's Electric Vehicle and Battery Footprint in Europe
This project began with discussions in August 2026 with senior executives from some of China's largest battery electric vehicle manufacturers. They were considering how to respond to the EU's countervailing duties, and much of the conversation concerned which stakeholders to engage in Brussels and across the member states, and which arguments were likely to resonate with them.
Those discussions prompted a broader question: where were Chinese firms actually establishing production in Europe, and what regulatory risks did they face in each location? Through my advisory firm, Market Access X, we built an interactive map bringing together the investment projects and the trade and investment regimes that shape them.
I wanted to distinguish what companies had announced from what was happening on the ground. A proposed factory, a plant under construction and a facility producing for customers tell very different stories. The same applies to ownership: an equity investment and a technology licensing arrangement can both support European production, but they create different commercial and regulatory relationships.
The October update, with evidence reviewed to 4 October 2026, contains 75 project and presence records across 18 European territories, within a wider frame of 31 territories. These include shared factory phases, historical projects and separate research and development operations, so the headline is not a count of physical factories. Of the 42 ongoing, in-scope manufacturing records, 17 have documented production. Trial output is recorded separately.
For me, the value of the exercise is in connecting those distinctions to the policy questions. How do trade measures influence investment decisions? Which authorities have a say over a project, and at what stage? And how much does the formal scope of investment screening tell us about where firms ultimately choose to invest? The map lets readers explore individual records alongside their regulatory context, with source links and unresolved questions about ownership, product scope and current activity made visible.
This remains a work in progress. We will continue to revise the records as better evidence becomes available, keeping planned capacity separate from actual output and proposed rules separate from the framework currently in force.
Explore the map
The interactive map is free to use on the Market Access X website. Search by company or location, or explore the records by status, ownership and stage in the production chain.
