China's Automobile Standards Go Global Along the Belt and Road Initiative
Jul 19, 2024
Once, the Chinese automotive industry humbly learned from the advanced technologies and management experience of developed countries in the automotive field, as well as their standard systems. Now, with the continuous growth of China's automotive industry and its increasing international influence, Chinese automotive standards are gradually stepping out of the "national door". Recently, a journalist noticed at an industry conference that as the number of Chinese automobile exports overseas continues to increase, Chinese automotive standards are increasingly being applied overseas. "China's automotive standard system has shifted from learning from Europe and America to mainly independently formulating, such as our National Six standards are significantly different from the Euro Six standards, we have established our own basic standard system, that is, the Chinese driving cycle. The countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative are the main markets for our automobile product exports, and China's automotive standard system is following the product exports to the overseas along the Belt and Road Initiative." said **Liu Guibin**, Senior Technical Director of the Standards Institute of **China Automotive Technology & Research Center Co., Ltd** (hereinafter referred to as "CATARC").
"The global automotive industry has a common rule, that is, there are products first, then standards. The same is true for Chinese automotive standards going to the overseas market, with products leading and standards following," said Liu Guibin.
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2017, China's automobile exports exceeded the million mark, reaching 1.04 million vehicles. After 2020, China's automobile exports grew rapidly, with growth rates of 86.23%, 68.73%, and 53.53% from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, exports reached 5.22 million vehicles, setting a new record for automobile exports. "As the number of Chinese automobile product exports overseas gradually increases, Chinese automotive standards have also come into the local view," said Liu Guibin.
However, although passenger cars account for a large proportion of China's automobile export products, it is the buses that have taken the lead in going overseas in terms of Chinese automotive standards. Liu Guibin told reporters that buses are labor-intensive products, and with the advantages of scale and cost, Chinese buses have been laying out overseas for many years. Because the automotive industry in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is not developed, Chinese buses naturally entered the local market first. With the increase in the number of Chinese bus exports overseas and the improvement of reputation, the European and American markets have also begun to accept Chinese buses, and European and American automotive companies have gradually withdrawn from the production of buses. "The number of users of our country's buses is increasing, and the standards are gradually being recognized and accepted."
The transformation and development of new energy vehicles have created more opportunities for Chinese automotive standards to go overseas. "The export of China's new energy vehicle supercapacitor standards to overseas also follows the rule of product first, standard follows," Liu Guibin told reporters, "Supercapacitors have many advantages, such as fast charging and discharging, high power density, high safety, etc., but there are also many shortcomings, including low energy density, high cost, self-discharge, etc. Developed countries and regions such as Europe and America have hardly involved in this field, but many companies in our country are researching supercapacitors and have already applied them to new energy vehicles." This has laid the foundation for the "going out" of standards. For example, in Israel, after China's new energy vehicles entered Israel, Israel fully adopted China's new energy vehicle supercapacitor standards. "Israel has not joined the Belt and Road Initiative, but it is close to the partners of the Belt and Road, and it is a case of the overflow of China's automotive standards along the Belt and Road."
China's automobile production and sales have been ranked first in the world for more than 10 years, but before 2017, there was no Chinese presence in the global automotive standard system. It is an important task to form an autonomous and controllable standard and to have a say in the international community. Among them, the establishment of the Chinese driving cycle standard and "going out" has become a symbolic event.
Liu Guibin told reporters that the global standard system was mainly divided into three major categories before, including European standards, American standards, and Japanese standards. The European standard has the greatest influence and is used in the most countries and regions in the world, while the American and Japanese standards have an absolute advantage in their respective fields. In terms of test driving cycle standards, initially, China adopted the NEDC standard widely used in Europe, but this standard was criticized by many users. Although it later turned to the WLTC standard, it did not completely solve the problem. "China's driving cycle truly reflects the actual performance of vehicles in China's road environment in China, whether it is fuel consumption or energy consumption, it is close to the real situation," said **Liu Yu**, Chief Expert of CATARC and Director of the Department of Traffic and Energy Environment.
Liu Yu told reporters that China has established a national standard system for the test of new energy vehicle energy consumption and management based on the Chinese driving cycle, which includes a series of standards such as test methods, limits, and labels, providing an accurate measurement ruler for government supervision. "Automotive driving conditions are an important common basic technology in the automotive industry and the basis for the formulation of vehicle energy consumption/emission test methods and limit standards. The official release of the Chinese driving cycle marks the establishment of China's independent automotive driving cycle standard system, and it is listed with the European, American, and Japanese driving cycles as the world's four major driving cycles, achieving the autonomy and control of China's key testing and inspection technology," said Liu Yu.
In addition, as an important member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), with the active mediation and unremitting efforts of the competent departments, three new energy vehicle energy consumption test methods of the Chinese driving cycle have been introduced into the ISO international standards, involving the energy consumption and range test of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. On this basis, the Chinese driving cycle team is also continuing to cooperate with the ISO international standard working group on the development of new energy vehicle high and low temperature test methods, multi-driving condition noise test methods, heavy commercial vehicle driving condition development, etc., to promote the internationalization of China's automotive standards.
Besides being introduced into international standards, the Chinese driving cycle team has also carried out in-depth discussions with the automotive standard authorities of Southeast Asia and Central Asia and other countries, continuously expanding and deepening China's exchanges and cooperation with the Belt and Road countries in the fields of automotive standard regulations, access certification, testing technology, etc., to give full play to the important role of standardization in developing economic and trade partner relations with neighboring countries, and to eliminate obstacles for Chinese automobile exports to the Belt and Road countries.
A corporate staff member engaged in overseas sales business told reporters that at present, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, the Philippines, Myanmar, and others all recognize China's automotive standards. For vehicles exported to these countries, as long as there is a Chinese automotive standard certification, it is possible.
Of course, the journey of Chinese automotive standards going overseas is not smooth sailing. Liu Guibin told reporters that countries around the world have long accepted the European, American, and Japanese standard systems. Specifically, about 80% of the four major global standard systems are similar or interconnected, with only 20% being different. It is not easy to get other countries to accept the Chinese automotive standard system. "The going overseas of Chinese automotive standards is the result of the comprehensive effect of national strength, technical advancement, and the originality of standards," he said.
It is reported that in the process of Chinese automotive standards going overseas, the Standard Institute of CATARC has adopted a method of dividing key areas and countries to promote, with Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other regions being identified as key areas, which are also places where China's automobile exports are relatively large. In key areas, key countries and regions are listed according to the proportion and quantity of China's automobile exports.
"Our country's automotive standards going overseas also have two insurmountable difficulties. First, Chinese is not a globally universal language, and it is not very convenient for them to learn Chinese automotive standards. Second, the old automobile powers have their own sphere of influence, and they are the resistance to the entry of Chinese automotive standards into various places," said Liu
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