Late in 2017, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced its targets for green vehicle subsidy payouts for the 12th time in 2017. Electric cars equipped with batteries produced by Korean companies were omitted from the list. MIIT selected 251 models of electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) from 95 companies, but electric cars equipped with batteries produced by LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and other Korean companies reportedly were omitted from the list.
There is conjecture that the blackballing of Korean EV batteries is rooted in South Korea’s installation of U.S. Terminal