As a rule, other factors are always at play. I would agree that China and the US are hard to compare, and maybe we shouldn't even. For many reasons, some of which you mention, China can move faster toward an EV fleet than the US, but it doesn't matter much if the electricity is generated by coal. I should have mentioned that.
At the same time, China's GDP per capita has been rising from near 0 in 1990 to almost $20k per person in 2022. This allows more people in China to buy cars, and even if they were all EVs it is still an increase in energy demand. It's not really a win in terms of energy use.
As a rule, other factors are always at play. I would agree that China and the US are hard to compare, and maybe we shouldn't even. For many reasons, some of which you mention, China can move faster toward an EV fleet than the US, but it doesn't matter much if the electricity is generated by coal. I should have mentioned that.
At the same time, China's GDP per capita has been rising from near 0 in 1990 to almost $20k per person in 2022. This allows more people in China to buy cars, and even if they were all EVs it is still an increase in energy demand. It's not really a win in terms of energy use.