China has emerged in recent years as an incredible churner of electric vehicles (EVs) of all shapes and sizes for export. But it is not their cost competitiveness alone that worries Western countries determined to protect domestic automobile industries. From the US in the Americas and Denmark and Norway in Europe to Australia in the Oceania, governments are worried about connected car technologies that come along with EVs.
Denmark and Norway, which are using electric buses produced by Chinese bus-making giant Yutong, are currently investigating the security risks emanating from software updates and diagnostics. Both countries are trying to address the possibility of Yutong’s buses getting remotely disabled by Yutong or any malicious actor. Cybersecurity concerns have also got Australian experts worried about Yutong’s buses plying on their roads.
But this is not a trend of 2025. Last year, in September, the Biden administration in the US articulated Chinese automakers’ quest to ‘dominate connected vehicle technologies in the United States and globally’ not just as a threat to the US national security, but also as a threat to their supply chains. In a single sentence, the announcement captured the shift underway in how supply chains are conceptualised and operationalised: ‘The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that our automotive supply chains are resilient and secure from foreign threats’.
The US issued the final rules earlier this year just before Biden demitted office. These rules ‘prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems, as well as completed connected vehicles, from the PRC and Russia.’ The restrictions come into effect 2027 model year onwards. This would effectively mean banning Chinese EVs in the US market in the coming years.
In 2025, the fear of Chinese EVs has only spread across the Atlantic and the Pacific. In a moment similar to the battle against Huawei in late 2010s, it is reasonable to expect more restrictions being instituted across the Western world in late 2020s concerning Chinese EVs and connected car technologies.