China's leapfrogging in electromobility: a tale of three windows of opportunities

For several decades, China tried to catch up in the automotive industry, yet until recently with little success. Now, the paradigm shift from internal combustion to electric driving has opened a window of opportunity to catch up with global competitors. The Chinese government provided a strong policy push to become a lead market, allowing firms to accumulate technological capabilities and increasingly turn into lead manufacturers. This paper combines patent data and qualitative analyses of subsector trends to assess the technological capabilities and the international competitiveness of the Chinese industry in electromobility. We find that the country is indeed leapfrogging ahead in some domains (electric buses, lithium batteries) and rapidly catching up in others, including passenger vehicles. Ambitious green transformation policies can thus spur catch-up and competitiveness.