From BBC
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Business reporter & Transport correspondent
Reporting fromGuangzhou
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“I drive an electric vehicle because I am poor,” says Lu Yunfeng, a private hire driver, who is at a charging station on the outskirts of Guangzhou in the south of China.
Standing nearby, Sun Jingguo agrees. “The cost of driving a petrol car is too expensive. I save money driving an electric vehicle,” he says.
“Also, it protects the environment,” he adds, leaning against his white Beijing U7 model.
It’s the kind of conversation climate campaigners dream of hearing. In many countries, electric vehicles (EVs) are considered luxury purchases.
But here in China – where almost half of all cars sold last year were electric – it’s a banal reality.
‘King of the hill’
At the beginning of the century, China’s leadership laid out plans to dominate the technologies of the future. Once a nation of bicycles China is now the world’s leader in EVs.
For Guangzhou’s more than 18 million people, the roar of the rush hour has become a hum.
“When it comes to EVs, China is 10 years ahead and 10 times better than any other country,” says auto sector analyst Michael Dunne.
China’s BYD now leads the global EV market, after overtaking US rival Tesla earlier this year.
BYD’s sales have been helped by a vast domestic market of more than 1.4 billion people and it is now looking to sell more cars overseas. So too are a raft of other Chinese start-ups that make