this is a good point too, while the profit might not be there, the value of the data could be immense to them

stack_harder

econ

Is the Chinese EV industry one big scam?

I'll ramble off a few points:
- There's like 20 electric car companies in China now. 
- Competition is bringing prices down. 
- The virtuous western consumers think they're saving the planet by buying them.
- A new market with jobs and all the network effects (especially data collection) keeps China as factory for the world.
- Electricity in China is cheap, whereas petrol is expensive.