2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The sociopolitical construction of the market of new environmental vehicles in East Asian automotive industries
| Project/Area Number |
19K13879
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
HEIM Stephane 京都大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (30767900)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | New Energy Vehicles / Plug-in Hybrid vehicles / Pure electric vehicles / Vertical disintegration |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY2020, I focused on the recent evolution of the Chinese new energy vehicle market, and the disruptive potential of the Chinese battery makers. Giving the priority to the development of pure electric vehicles (BEV) rather than plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), the Chinese car makers and battery suppliers set forth a new stage in this market, and I questioned the process of vertical disintegration that might threaten the traditional car makers.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
With the impossibility to travel abroad and in Japan, I could not have in-depth interviews with car and battery makers in China, Japan and South Korea, as I initially planned. With the new laws enacted by the Chinese central government that allow foreign car and battery makers to invest in China without having a local Chinese partner, I intended to observe how local battery and electric vehicle makers adapt themselves to this new competitive environment. My first hypothesis was that it would create an harsher environment for these Chinese firms, and that a process of capital integration was underway. My second hypothesis was that Japanese and Korean battery makers would diversify their products to find new clients. I could not investigate further these two hypotheses without having extensive field research and interviews with electric car and battery makers. I then collected several second-hand data on the evolution of the East Asian electric car and battery makers.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Due to the current public health crisis, it is still difficult to plan in-depths field trips in East Asia in FY2021. I will then pursue my alternative research agenda launched last year. I will continue collecting statistical data about the evolution of the East Asian battery supply chain (from raw materials like cobalt, lithium, etc.) to the final assembly of the batteries to examine the specificity of this global value chain, and its limits. The main plan is to work closer with colleagues at the School of Government, Sun Yat-Sen University in China, and a research team at GERPISA, the international network of automobile. I also intend to analyze the impact of these new technological developments on work and labor relations and policies in East Asia.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the spread of the COVD-19 pandemic and its variants, in FY2021 it will be difficult to travel abroad to collect first-hand data in China and South Korea, and attend several international symposiums (most are now online). I will mostly acquire several international databases, books and reports about the evolution of the East Asian battery and electric vehicles markets, as an alternative to my original qualitative research agenda. Besides, I will also work on the impact of these technological developments on labor, and then purchase databases, reports and books in that perspective.
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