Many of these cars don't pass western safety standards and can never be sold in Europe.
There are some that are Tesla competitors, but it is widely believed (there is not enough evidence to show conclusively) that none of the Chinese manufacturers make money on selling EVs.
The situation is similar to that of Rivian or VW. The Rivian is a spectacular car but it is expensive to make that Rivian loses 10s of thousands everytime they sell a car. VW is also losing money on every EV they sell. If you buy one you're getting a good deal, but edging the company closer to bankruptcy at the same time. Buy the car avoid the stock.
BYD refuses to give financials on their pure EV profit numbers. They sell a ton of hybrids and ICE cars and eek out a very small profit. Anyone who pays attention to the space must ask themselves why they don't boast about their pure EV margins? It's likely because they are losing money.
Tesla on the other hand has positive gross margins on their cars and have since the day they started selling the Model S. That is the reason why the stock value is so high, because Tesla is the most efficient EV maker on earth by a significant margin. They can lower prices further than any competition and remain profitable.
Chinese EVs are not concepts or prototypes. they're in mass production already.
outside of China, yes, they're probably a rare sight. in Chinese cities however, from what I saw, a double digit percentage of cars are their EVs - which is a lot of cars in a country with 1.5 billion people.
don't take my word for it, there are probably plenty of videos on youtube that show and discuss Chinese city roads.
I can testify that Chinese EVs are starting to pop up in Europe. Not a lot, but if you do a lot of driving, you can spot one or two a day.
Given their price and performance, I think we'll be seeing more of them in the future. The two downsides (that I was told of) are build quality (at the same level as tesla) and obsession with large screens (same as tesla).
Somewhat impeded by weak dealer networks, and dubious marketing (for a couple of years, ORA was trying to sell something called a Funky Cat, though they’ve recently rebranded it as something more boring) but they’re a thing.
Until it reaches the most important and greatest market in the world (Midwest US) it's hard to take these cars seriously. The variety and diversity of terrain is the real test of a car's longevity - until then, they are simply toys.
I took a few DiDi rides in China when I was there December last year, and most of the black car drivers used BYD electric cars that were really nice. I met some new friends at a wedding there and they showed me their car which had voice controlled windows that worked really well, it was a party trick for sure but cool. I came home wanting a BYD car and then I was sad to find them unavailable in the US.
Should Trump win, arguably Musk is helping him to win by providing a free speech platform, Trump is more likely to tariff Chinese competition.