How to Invest in China’s EV Sector

Chinese EV Stocks: Automakers

China’s carmakers sell three kinds of plug-in vehicle, and the mix varies widely from one company to the next. Battery-electric cars run on the battery alone. Plug-in hybrids pair a battery with a gasoline engine and can run on either. Extended-range EVs also carry an engine, but it only generates electricity for the battery; that design is the biggest seller at Li Auto and Seres.

BYD sells battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, and sold more plug-in vehicles than any other manufacturer in 2025. It also makes its own cells, but because they come from the same listed company, BYD appears in this table and not in the battery table below. Geely and Chery still sell gasoline cars as well as electrified ones, and Chery is China’s largest vehicle exporter. Xiaomi, best known for its smartphones, began delivering cars in 2024.

Companies are ranked by whole-company market capitalization, which includes non-EV activities.

Rank#	Company	Listing	Market cap
1	Xiaomi Corporation Xiaomi is a Hong Kong-listed technology group best known for smartphones and consumer electronics. It began delivering its first car, the SU7 sedan, in March 2024 and added the YU7 SUV in 2025. Its market capitalization covers the smartphone and connected-device business as well as the cars. 1810.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$88B
2	BYD Company BYD builds battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars and makes its own lithium iron phosphate cells and packs, including the Blade Battery, through FinDreams Battery. It sold 4,602,436 new energy vehicles in 2025, just over one million of them outside China. The group also makes electronic components and runs a rail-transit business. 1211.HK· Also: 002594.SZ ·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$83B
3	Geely Automobile Geely Automobile is the Hong Kong-listed arm of Zhejiang Geely Holding, selling the Geely, Geely Galaxy, Zeekr and Lynk & Co brands. It took premium EV maker Zeekr wholly owned in December 2025. Volvo Cars, Polestar and smart belong to the parent group, outside the listed company. 0175.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$20B
4	Chery Automobile Chery Automobile has been China’s largest passenger-car exporter for over two decades and listed in Hong Kong in September 2025. Its brands include Chery, Exeed, Jetour and iCAR, the export-focused Omoda and Jaecoo lines and Luxeed, developed with Huawei. Most of its volume is still gasoline-powered, and its new energy push leans on plug-in hybrids. 9973.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$17B
5	Li Auto Li Auto built its business on the L-series extended-range family SUVs and has been profitable since 2023. Battery-electric models followed with the MEGA MPV in 2024 and the i8 and i6 SUVs in 2025, supported by its own high-power charging network. LI· Also: 2015.HK ·IR Link	🇺🇸 United States	$11B
6	Seres Group Seres Group builds AITO premium electric and extended-range vehicles with Huawei, which supplies the cockpit software and driver-assistance stack and sells the cars through its own retail network. Seres bought the AITO trademarks and related design patents from Huawei for CNY 2.5 billion in a deal agreed in July 2024. 601127.SS· Also: 9927.HK ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$11B
7	XPeng Inc. XPeng’s line-up runs from the MONA M03 to the X9 MPV, set apart by an in-house driver-assistance stack and its own AI chips. Volkswagen bought about 5% of XPeng in 2023 and pays it to co-develop electrical architecture for VW’s China-market cars. XPeng also funds robotics and flying-car projects. XPEV· Also: 9868.HK ·IR Link	🇺🇸 United States	$8.8B
8	NIO Inc. NIO sells premium EVs under the NIO brand, family cars under Onvo and small cars under Firefly. Its cars can be bought without the battery under a battery-as-a-service subscription, with packs exchanged across the industry’s largest swap-station network. Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings became a major shareholder through about $3.3 billion of investments in 2023. NIO· Also: 9866.HK ·IR Link	🇺🇸 United States	$8.2B
9	Leapmotor Leapmotor sells mass-market battery-electric and extended-range cars on a cost-led, vertically integrated model. It delivered 596,555 vehicles in 2025 and posted its first annual net profit. Stellantis holds about 20% of Leapmotor and 51% of Leapmotor International, which sells and assembles its cars outside China. 9863.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$6.1B
10	VOYAH Automotive Technology VOYAH is Dongfeng’s premium electric vehicle brand, with SUVs, an MPV and a sedan in battery-electric and extended-range versions. It listed in Hong Kong by introduction on March 19, 2026, raising no new money, as part of the privatization of Dongfeng Motor Group, which remains the controlling shareholder. 7489.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$774M

Market caps as of October 25, 2026.

Exports, Domestic Demand and Margins

China’s car exports grew 65% year on year in the first half of 2026 to more than five million vehicles, holding the fall in production to around 6% while domestic sales dropped more than 20%, according to the IEA. These are total-car figures and include conventional vehicles¹. Electric car exports grew faster still, more than 120% over the same period, lifting the electric share of China’s car exports from over 35% in 2025 to over 45%¹.

BYD now earns more outside China than inside it. Overseas revenue reached RMB 181.3 billion in the first half of 2026, more than half of the group’s RMB 344.8 billion total, as its revenue in China fell⁷.

Across emerging markets and developing economies other than China, Chinese carmakers took 60% of electric car sales in 2025 against 10% of conventional car sales, and almost 90% of the electric car market in Latin America¹. The IEA estimates that, as of 2026, a battery electric car costs around 35% less to build in China than in advanced economies¹.

Export figures count vehicles shipped, and the IEA estimates that more than one million electric cars exported from China over the 18 months to mid-2026 had not yet been registered in destination markets, with transit time and dealer inventory accounting for part of the gap¹. A manufacturer’s export mix, local production, distribution costs and tariff exposure therefore matter as much as delivery growth. Volume growth has come with price cuts and thin margins, and overseas expansion ties up working capital.

Chinese Battery Stocks

The battery is the most expensive component in an electric car, and Chinese factories produced more than 80% of the world’s battery cells in 2025². The companies below serve different mixes of vehicle, stationary-storage and consumer-electronics customers. At CATL, the largest, revenue from energy-storage batteries rose 87.5% year on year to RMB 53.3 billion in the first half of 2026, against 46.0% growth in EV batteries, taking storage to 19.2% of group revenue⁸.

Cell chemistry determines which materials suppliers benefit. Lithium iron phosphate accounted for more than 55% of global EV battery deployment in 2025, and LFP packs were more than 40% cheaper per kWh on average than nickel-manganese-cobalt alternatives, a comparison that partly reflects LFP’s use in stationary storage, where energy density matters less².

Excess capacity, customer pricing pressure and the cost of qualifying new factories absorb much of the benefit of rising demand. The IEA reports losses and difficult financing conditions in parts of the battery-materials industry².

Rank#	Company	Listing	Market cap
1	CATL CATL is the world’s largest EV battery maker, with a 39.2% share of global EV-battery usage in 2025 according to SNE Research. It makes lithium iron phosphate and nickel-based cells and TENER storage systems, with plants in Germany and Hungary as well as China. Its Shenzhen and Hong Kong shares represent the same group. 300750.SZ· Also: 3750.HK ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$165B
2	EVE Energy EVE Energy makes primary lithium batteries, consumer lithium-ion cells, EV batteries and storage batteries, a broader range than most peers. Its vehicle programs include 46-series cylindrical cells for BMW’s Neue Klasse platform and batteries for Daimler Truck. Its Malaysia plant is its first battery-production base outside China. 300014.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$14B
3	Gotion High-Tech Gotion High-Tech makes lithium-ion cells, packs and storage systems, weighted toward lithium iron phosphate. Volkswagen Group China is its largest shareholder, with 24.45% at the end of 2025, and Gotion began mass-producing Volkswagen’s unified prismatic cell at Hefei in November 2025. Other vehicle customers include Chery, SAIC-Wuling, JAC, Chang’an and Leapmotor. 002074.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$7.1B
4	Sunwoda Sunwoda Electronic began in consumer batteries for phones, laptops and wearables, with customers including Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi. It has since added EV power batteries and, through Sunwoda Energy, stationary storage. Consumer batteries were about 54% of FY2024 revenue and EV batteries about 27%. 300207.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$5.2B
5	CALB CALB Group makes lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and stationary storage, including lithium iron phosphate cells and modules sold to storage-system builders. It produces in China for domestic and international customers. 3931.HK·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$3.1B

Market caps as of October 25, 2026.

Battery Materials, Refining and Recycling Stocks

Lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite pass through several stages before they reach a cell, and the companies in this table earn at different points along the way. Miners and brine producers depend on resource quality and commodity prices. Refiners turn that feedstock into battery-grade chemicals. Makers of electrolytes, separators and cell components depend on manufacturing performance and customer orders as well as input costs.

Resources and refining. China mined under a quarter of the world’s lithium in 2025 but produced around three-quarters of its refined lithium, and it refined 75% of the world’s cobalt and more than 90% of battery-grade graphite, according to the IEA³. Much of that refining is done by listed companies: Ganfeng, Tianqi, Canmax and Qinghai Salt Lake convert ore and brine into lithium carbonate and hydroxide. Huayou refines cobalt and nickel. CMOC, the largest cobalt miner, produced 117 kt of cobalt in 2025 at its two Congolese mines, but its cobalt sales fell 92% that year under the Democratic Republic of Congo’s export restrictions³. Nickel is the exception: Indonesia refined just under half of the world’s supply in 2025³, and Huayou, CNGR and GEM all process nickel there. The IEA estimates that capital costs for refining projects run 20% to more than 150% higher outside the dominant supplier, with operating costs around 50% higher on average, which is why processing stays concentrated in China even as mine supply diversifies³.

Overseas stakes. The chart’s mined shares count only mines inside China, and Chinese companies also hold large stakes in mines abroad. Ganfeng owns 65% of the Goulamina lithium mine in Mali and 46.67% of Cauchari-Olaroz in Argentina. Tianqi holds an indirect interest in Australia’s Greenbushes mine and a stake in Chile’s SQM. CMOC owns 80% of Tenke Fungurume and a 71.25% effective interest in Kisanfu, both copper-cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Africa, companies headquartered in China own over 65% of new lithium mining capacity, according to the IEA³.

Cell materials and components. A lithium-ion cell has two electrodes, the cathode and the anode. The electrolyte carries lithium ions between them, and a porous separator keeps them from touching. Hunan Yuneng makes lithium iron phosphate cathode material, and CNGR makes the precursor from which nickel-based cathode material is produced. Putailai makes graphite anode material, Tinci and Capchem supply electrolytes, Semcorp makes separators, and Kedali makes cell casings and top caps.

Recycling. GEM combines recycling and precursor manufacturing with primary nickel processing. Installed capacity runs well ahead of throughput: the EPO/IEA’s 2026 study estimates that Chinese recycling plants would average only about 20% utilization even if all available end-of-life material were collected and processed⁴.

Rank#	Company	Listing	Market cap
1	CMOC Group CMOC Group mines copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, owning 80% of Tenke Fungurume and a 71.25% effective interest in Kisanfu. It also produces molybdenum and tungsten in China and niobium, phosphate and gold in Brazil, and trades metals through IXM. DRC export restrictions affect when its cobalt output turns into sales. 3993.HK· Also: 603993.SS ·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$35B
2	Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Qinghai Salt Lake Industry is China’s largest potash producer and recovers lithium carbonate from brines at the Qarhan Salt Lake. Potash was roughly two-thirds of FY2024 revenue and lithium carbonate about 30%. Since a state-led reorganization in December 2024 it has been controlled through the China Minmetals-led China Salt Lake Industrial Group. 000792.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$18B
3	Huayou Cobalt Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt spans mineral resources, metal refining, cathode precursors, cathode materials and recycling. It links copper-cobalt operations in the DRC with nickel-cobalt processing in Indonesia, including the Huayue and Huafei high-pressure acid leach projects. Nickel products and battery materials earn far more of its revenue than cobalt products. 603799.SS·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$9.1B
4	Guangzhou Tinci Materials Guangzhou Tinci Materials’ largest business is lithium-ion battery electrolyte. It makes its own lithium hexafluorophosphate, the salt behind much of electrolyte input cost, at Jiujiang in Jiangxi. It also makes electrolyte additives, lithium iron phosphate cathode material and personal-care chemicals. 002709.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$8.3B
5	Yunnan Energy New Material Yunnan Energy New Material, known internationally as Semcorp, makes wet-process separator film, the porous membrane that keeps a cell’s electrodes apart while letting lithium ions pass. It supplies Chinese and overseas cell makers and has pursued production in Hungary and the United States; the Debrecen, Hungary plant faced regulatory suspensions in 2025 and 2026. 002812.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$6.9B
6	Shenzhen Kedali Industry Shenzhen Kedali Industry makes precision structural parts for lithium-ion cells: casings, top caps, safety vents and rupture discs. Revenue is concentrated among a few large customers led by CATL, and it has followed them abroad with plants in Sweden, Germany and Hungary. 002850.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$6.7B
7	Shanghai Putailai Shanghai Putailai makes graphite anode material and runs its own graphitization, the high-temperature step that turns carbon feedstock into synthetic graphite. It also makes coated separators, PVDF binder and resin, aluminum-plastic film for pouch cells, and the coating, winding and stacking machines used in cell factories. 603659.SS·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$6.3B
8	Shenzhen Capchem Technology Shenzhen Capchem Technology makes lithium-ion battery electrolytes and additives. It also produces capacitor chemicals, semiconductor process chemicals and organic fluorine compounds, making it more diversified than Tinci, the other large Chinese electrolyte supplier in this table. 300037.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$6.1B
9	Ganfeng Lithium Ganfeng Lithium combines lithium resources, chemical conversion, battery manufacturing and recycling, producing carbonate, hydroxide and lithium metal. Its upstream interests include 65% of Goulamina in Mali and 46.67% of Cauchari-Olaroz in Argentina. In August 2026 it signed definitive agreements with Lithium Argentina for the PPG brine venture, with proposed ownership of 67% and 33%. 1772.HK· Also: 002460.SZ ·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$6.0B
10	Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Material Hunan Yuneng produces lithium iron phosphate cathode material for EV and storage batteries, so its sales follow LFP’s share of cell production. Its H1 2026 interim report names CATL, BYD, EVE Energy, Hithium, AESC, REPT Battero and Gotion High-Tech among its customers, and CATL and BYD are both top-ten shareholders. 301358.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$5.8B
11	CNGR Advanced Material CNGR Advanced Material is one of the largest producers of cathode precursor (pCAM), the nickel-cobalt-manganese intermediate that cathode makers turn into finished material. Since 2021 it has invested in nickel matte and intermediate production at Indonesia’s Morowali industrial park to secure feedstock. 300919.SZ· Also: 2579.HK Listing notice ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$5.2B
12	Tianqi Lithium Tianqi Lithium combines lithium mining interests with chemical conversion in China and Australia. It holds an indirect interest in the Greenbushes mine through Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia and Talison, runs the Kwinana lithium-hydroxide refinery and owns a strategic stake in Chile’s SQM. Ownership percentages differ, so gross output at these assets is not wholly attributable to Tianqi. 9696.HK· Also: 002466.SZ ·IR Link	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$5.1B
13	Canmax Technologies Canmax Technologies makes lithium chemicals through subsidiaries including Yibin Tianyi and Sichuan Tianhua, using concentrate secured through supply agreements and upstream investments. Lithium materials were about 94% of revenue in the first half of 2026, with cleanroom products and medical devices making up the rest. 300390.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$4.8B
14	GEM Co GEM Co is one of China’s largest recyclers of spent lithium-ion batteries and electronic waste, refining the recovered nickel, cobalt and lithium into cathode precursor. It adds primary nickel processing in Indonesia through the QMB New Energy Materials joint venture at Morowali. 002340.SZ·IR Link	🇨🇳 China	$4.5B

Market caps as of October 25, 2026.

Risks

Business economics. Deliveries, battery shipments and tonnes produced are volume measures, and margins in this sector have been under sustained pressure from price competition and unused capacity. Customer concentration, debt and spending on new facilities weigh on returns even when demand grows, and lithium, nickel and cobalt prices add a commodity cycle for the materials companies.

Owning Chinese shares from abroad. The New York-listed carmakers trade as American depositary receipts, certificates issued by a US bank that holds the underlying shares. Investors in many Chinese groups own shares in an offshore holding company, often incorporated in the Cayman Islands, rather than in the Chinese operating business, and some of those holding companies control parts of their operations through contracts, known as variable interest entities, instead of equity. The structure differs by issuer and needs checking company by company; a Hong Kong listing of the same group usually carries it too. The shares trade in US or Hong Kong dollars while most revenue and costs are in renminbi, so currency moves feed into returns. US listings also carry a delisting rule. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act bars trading in a company’s shares if US regulators cannot inspect its auditor for two consecutive years. The 2021 determinations that auditors in mainland China and Hong Kong could not be inspected were vacated in December 2022, and as of October 2026 the SEC states that no issuer faces a prohibition unless the PCAOB makes a new determination. The law remains in force⁵.

Trade and geopolitics. Export growth has drawn trade defenses. Tariffs, anti-subsidy duties, local-content rules and restrictions on connected-car software decide which markets Chinese-built vehicles can enter and at what price, and they can change at short notice. Building plants abroad is one response, but a car or cell made in an overseas factory faces different rules from one shipped from China, so ownership, product origin and destination all matter. Beijing also restricts exports of some graphite products and battery and lithium-processing technology, which can constrain its own companies’ overseas projects. US government lists of Chinese companies can limit federal contracts and, for some names, US investment, so whether a company appears on one is worth checking before buying. Resource-producing countries add restrictions of their own, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s controls on cobalt exports.

Taxes and policy. China’s July 2026 battery-tax notice imposed a 2% consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries from September 1, 2026, rising to 4% from September 1, 2027, with sodium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries and fuel cells exempt through the end of 2028 under the notice’s conditions. Self-produced batteries used to make other products fall within the charge, so vertical integration is no shelter from it⁶. The full purchase tax exemption for new energy vehicles was halved in 2026 and ends from the start of 2028 unless extended¹.

Diversifying across these businesses reduces reliance on one issuer, and the holdings will still share Chinese policy, battery-demand and commodity-price exposure.