Hey!
Where have you been looking?
Cheers
There are so many factories. The battery market in China is immense with alot of small brands that don't even show up on alibaba. Everyone has an electric scooter, they are really cheap here. Then you have many electric cars here nio, byd, tesla and other brands I havn't identified yet. Electric buses too.
Most of the factories with the brands we all know with the type of form factor we like, prismatic, are in the southern provinces. I am near Shanghai which is in the center. I've been busy with work here too so haven't gotten a chance to go south yet, but I spoke to alot of factories and they all have no problem showing me the factories. Acutally not totally true. Some factories refused me over covid. There is alot of fear when they see a foreigner here, they think we are bringing covid to them. Some foreigners I know are even told on the street they have to wear a mask all the time by the low life chinese that exist. Also I am learning quikcly that you must be ware the Chinese business mentality and honest fair business is rare here. They tell you what you want to hear. Personally I am moving to a new job next month because my current job was not as what it was advertised before I arrived. Ill be closer to the southern provinces now.
Another reason I haven't travelled within China is there are provincial restrictions on travel that require quarentine and the rules are constantly changing. For the most part there is no covid restrictions other than needing to wear a mask in buses. And traveling to other provinces is easy, all my students just finished the semester and booked train tickets to all over China with no problem. But cities import covid cases from abroad all the time and then travel restrictions happen until mass testing is completed. The southern cities recently did this. That said I am vaccinated, and everyone in the universities is too. They gave us a paper confirming, but we don't know if this gives us freedom. I went to the hospital for a minor operation and they still made me get a covid test even though I told them I was vaccinated.
Another problem I noticed from talking to factories is that lithium and the other commodity prices are going up and China recently stoppped subsidizing the renewable energy industry here. Prices are going up. And electric car and bus makers are gobbling up everything. Again, just what the factorys tell me, but maybe they just want to pressure me to buy now. I did confirm lithium and commodity prices are going up though.
