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Chinese Exports of Green Technologies Surged to Record Levels After Iran War Began (cnn.com) 149

Posted by EditorDavid from the going-green dept.
"The war in Iran has sent oil-starved countries scrambling for fuel," CNN reported this week. And many of those countries now want renewable fuels, the article points out, "leaving them turning to the renewables king of the planet: China." Chinese exports of solar technology, batteries and electric vehicles all reached record highs in March, according to energy think tank Ember, a sign that the historic oil supply shock is accelerating the adoption of clean energy around the world... A Thursday report from Ember said China exported 68 gigawatts of solar technology in March, surpassing the previous record set in August by 50%. Fifty countries set new records for Chinese solar imports, with the most significant growth coming from emerging markets in Asia and Africa hit hardest by the energy crisis, according to the think tank. "Fossil shocks are boosting the solar surge," said Euan Graham, senior analyst at Ember, in the report. "Solar has already become the engine of the global economy, and now the current fossil fuel price shocks are taking it up a gear."

Ember said exports of solar, batteries and EVs in total rose 70% in March year over year, according to Chinese customs data... China's battery exports reached $10 billion in March, with particularly high growth rates in the European Union, Australia and India, Ember said. Uncertainty over when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen has spurred deeper regional anxieties about energy securi"ty, helping to hasten the transition to clean energy, analysts said.
The article notes how different countries are reacting to fuel
  • Asian nations that depend on the Middle East for energy imports "are trying to mitigate fuel shortages by encouraging energy conservation and shortening work hours."
  • The UK's Energy Secretary said this week that the country needed to reduce its reliance on gas for electricity. "As we face the second fossil fuel shock in less than 5 years, the lesson for our country is clear: The era of fossil fuel security is over, and the era of clean energy security must come of age."
  • Pakistan "has been spared some of the impact from the war, since it began drastically importing cheap Chinese solar panels a few years ago. Using solar energy rather than costly oil imports is estimated to save the country billions of dollars each year."
  • "According to the China Passenger Car Association, Chinese exports of electric vehicles and hybrids hit a record high in March, increasing 140% compared with the same period a year ago."

Thanks to Slashdot reader AleRunner for sharing the article.


Chinese Exports of Green Technologies Surged to Record Levels After Iran War Began More | Reply

Chinese Exports of Green Technologies Surged to Record Levels After Iran War Began

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  • The new CATL batteries are wild (Score:5, Informative)

    by memory_register ( 6248354 ) on Saturday May 02, 2026 @11:43PM (#66125010)

    We are reaching the frontier where EV can be charged in the amount of time it takes to fill up your gas tank. This was always the bottleneck for a lot of people; time to charge and total distance on a charge. The next few years are going to be very interesting. https://www.techradar.com/vehi... [techradar.com]

    • Huawei too

      Huawei has great massive scale power systems.

      • Re:The new CATL batteries are wild (Score:5, Interesting)

        by saloomy ( 2817221 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @02:36AM (#66125114)
        I was hesitant of the charge time fear, but having lives with an EV for 8 years (first Model X in 2018), I can say that the obsession with charge time is ridiculous unless you are a long haul trucker. My cars charge overnight, every night. I have a Tesla wall charger on every parking space in my garage, and my wife and I charge our cars to full, every night. I use a supercharger... 8 times a year? Seriously, how often do you drive 250+ miles a day? Even the Model 3's standard range cars do that. It is such a better way to live where every day you have a "full tank of gas" when you turn on your car. Not everyone can afford the capital outlay for solar panels, but we did and it makes our drives effectively free. Seriously, the maintenance, the running expenses, has all been unbelievable. Stop squeezing every ounce of longevity from your batteries and just accept the fact that you MUST sleep at some point, which is a great time to charge up your cars.

        • I can say that the obsession with charge time is ridiculous unless you are a long haul trucker. My cars charge overnight, every night. I have a Tesla wall charger on every parking space in my garage

          Most car owners don't have such things.

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

            Actually *most* car owners do have such things, especially in America. But the fascination with charging overnight every night is equally dumb. I plug my car in once a week in the street, and once a week in either at work or at the sports centre depending on the level of charge.

            While that kind of infrastructure is a dirty word in the USA there are still an insane number of people in the world who have access to it and still masturbate over fast-charge times on EVs (in reality looking for an excuse not to ta

            • The only way I might have been able to afford an EV is with a Chinese one, but my government won't let me have that. I don't have a place to charge right now so I can't use the kind of EV I can otherwise afford, i.e. a compliance car. e.g. a used 1st gen Leaf literally won't get me to work and back.

              I just wish facts weren't dirty around here, we could use some more of them. I'm pretty tired of the automakers shitting everything up.

        • Re:The new CATL batteries are wild (Score:5, Informative)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @05:30AM (#66125272) Homepage Journal

          I hear that the infrastructure in the US is very bad, but then I see videos showing people using it for very long distance trips (driving in shifts) without issue.

          Personally I just drive until the battery shows 20% and then pull into the next service area and use their chargers. Only happens a few times a year and doesn't cost me any time because I'd stop for coffee and a snack anyway. Even a relatively modest (by modern standards) charge speed of 140kW is enough to refill the battery by the time I am done.

          • I hear that the infrastructure in the US is very bad, but then I see videos showing people using it for very long distance trips (driving in shifts) without issue.

            Personally I just drive until the battery shows 20% and then pull into the next service area and use their chargers. Only happens a few times a year and doesn't cost me any time because I'd stop for coffee and a snack anyway. Even a relatively modest (by modern standards) charge speed of 140kW is enough to refill the battery by the time I am done.

            Yup - It is just standard anti-US screed on Slashdot. Taking the people here who don't like EV's and trying to make that the entire population. It's a form of insecurity on their part.

            For all the USA as a third world country concept championed by a lot of loudmouths in here, if you look in my area in PA - supposedly part of the impoverished Appalachians, you can see many wind turbines along the Allegheny escarpment, happily providing electricity. We have large solar arrays providing end of line substatio

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Renewables are a threat to not just the people who got rich off oil, but to the American way of life. If the natural monopolies on energy production are broken because now anyone can make their own energy at much lower cost, well that's communism.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by XXongo ( 3986865 )

                If the natural monopolies on energy production are broken because now anyone can make their own energy at much lower cost, well that's communism.

                :)
                Anarchism, surely.

              • Renewables are a threat to not just the people who got rich off oil, but to the American way of life. If the natural monopolies on energy production are broken because now anyone can make their own energy at much lower cost, well that's communism.

                The proletariat should have been completely independent of government in the vaunted communist countries.

                Technology replaces technology, and it is a non sequitur to claim independence based on technology is somehow communism.

                Indeed, it is the polar opposite of one of the linchpins of communism, the command economy, where all decisions are out of the hands of the proletariat.

              • You're joking-but-not-joking, but don't forget - The central reason that America has virtually no public transit infrastructure that deserves the name is because after WWII, auto makers bought and systematically destroyed all of it they could, and set about manipulating city planning in order to make anyone who doesn't drive the next thing to a prisoner in their own home.

          • And plus one ought to be stopping because not doing so increases the risk of a crash.

            The number of posters here engaged in last minute, unplanned cannonball runs, hailing cargo with a reserve driver to swap with, while also possessing a bladder of steel never creases to amaze me.

            I don't have a car, electric or otherwise, but when I hire a van (diesel) my driving style would definitely fit with charging because I also stop for food and drink and a wee when when I am splitting the driving.

        • I sadly drive 200-250 miles a day almost every weekend in the summer. For a town car Iâ(TM)m happy with electric. For my trip car i need no worries if middle of nowhere has a charger.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by shilly ( 142940 )

            My car has a summer range of 330 miles, and it ain't all that. It's just a Mercedes EQA, bought in 2024. How in the world would that not be enough for 200 to 250 miles of driving? Are you choosing some route where there's no charger at the start, none on the way, and none at the destination?

        • Everything you said is perfectly valid except for one thing. It's a Tesla.

    • Re:The new CATL batteries are wild (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @03:51AM (#66125172)

      This was always the bottleneck for a lot of people

      Because people can't separate the concept of a gas station with a vehicle. This has been a bottleneck for people who will eventually find themselves in a situation where they don't actually ever fast charge their vehicle.

      I was guilty of this. I thought EVs needed to charge in 10minutes. Then I got one, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've charged my EV at more than 40kW (the charger in my street and at work) in the past 2 years. I feel a bit silly for thinking that fast charging was an important metric, so do does everyone I know who got an EV.

      • This was always the bottleneck for a lot of people

        Because people can't separate the concept of a gas station with a vehicle. This has been a bottleneck for people who will eventually find themselves in a situation where they don't actually ever fast charge their vehicle.

        I was guilty of this. I thought EVs needed to charge in 10minutes. Then I got one, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've charged my EV at more than 40kW (the charger in my street and at work) in the past 2 years. I feel a bit silly for thinking that fast charging was an important metric, so do does everyone I know who got an EV.

        Well put. It is just a different approach. One that uses consistent topping off rather than drive until it's at the equivalent of when the petrofueled car gas light turning on, then looking for a station. Maybe you charge at night, maybe in the parking lot at work, occasionally at a convenience store.

        What I have found hilarious is the people who try to argue their edge cases as a reason that EV's shouldn't exist. It isn't like there are no other solutions. Hybrid, gasoline, that yummy 6 plus dollars a ga

        • I can't charge at home. It's just not possible. Living in an apartment where my car is no where near my unit and not in the best part of town means no EV charging at home. I suppose I should just become richer so I can buy a house.

          I'm working on saving my money up for a down payment and also waiting for a correction. I actually have my down payment but the homes are still well beyond my price range (southern California housing isn't for working class).

          So I'll keep driving my 7 year old, 83k miles so far, pa

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      BYD has also got wild new batteries, and let's not forget that CATL also has production scale sodium both for EVs and for BESS now. The future is hurtling towards us!

  • Making China Great Again. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 ) on Saturday May 02, 2026 @11:51PM (#66125018)

    The very substance of any trumpistani policy so far.

  • Closet Environmentalist? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Art Challenor ( 2621733 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @12:06AM (#66125028)
    I assume that the attack on Iran was a well thought through plan to encourage the world to decrease oil dependency. Nothing else makes much sense.

    Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the the US is going to be the beneficiary of this plan. As the rest of the world moves toward clean, cheap energy, the US is going to be left behind. Making gas powered cars that no one else in the world wants and generating power from fossil fuels.

    • Re:Closet Environmentalist? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @12:27AM (#66125040)

      Indeed. Although it is a bit complicated to start with raping a bunch of underage girls, being in need of a distraction from that when the law finally catches up with him, choosing to attack Iran (that was expecting this move for 40 years), which then causes an oil shortage. The guy must really be the greatest genius ever!

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Samantha Wright ( 1324923 )

        We will never truly know how many dimensions the Chess game has.

        • You are not The One. First, you must realize that There Is No Chess Game.
        • There was a great political cartoon published in Canada... Basically with our prime minister sitting on one side of a table in front of a chess board and Trump sitting on the other side with crayons strewn everywhere.

        • I first heard about chess I was in junior school, so probably 7 or 8. There was a chess set in the games box and one of the kids knew how to play. That particular game involved lining up all the pieces then you take turns to flick your pieces at the opponent. The one left with pieces standing was the winner of course.

          I think that fits quite well here.

          I did subsequently learn but never got especially good (solid minor player).

    • Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the the US is going to be the beneficiary of this plan. As the rest of the world moves toward clean, cheap energy, the US is going to be left behind.

      You aren't thinking far enough ahead. In addition to pushing the rest of the world to abandon fossil fuels, he's also pushing Americans to blame Republicans for high energy prices and an expensive war no one wanted, so they'll vote Democrats back into office and they can reinstate pro-environment policies. It's all part of the plan!

      • You know he's not pro-second amendment either. He's really not a good Republican.

    • Re:Closet Environmentalist? (Score:4, Informative)

      by quintessencesluglord ( 652360 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @12:57AM (#66125056)

      Ryan Grim has made the argument Trump has done more to advance a leftist agenda than the democrats (yes yes yes, Republican lite) in the past few decades.

      Trump will be a complex historical figure in that his monumental failures have changed the stagnation that defined the start of the 21st century, maybe for the better.

      Of course he will still try to take credit for it as some pan-dimensional chess he was doing all along.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by test321 ( 8891681 )

        The argument is interesting, but I don't find it compelling. We understand that technological progress often stems from conflicts and other dramatic situations; but we don't celebrate the evil-doers at their origin. Think of WWII, we don't credit Hitler for advancing the Jew agenda by kickstarting Israel, or for starting a half-century "for the better" because of various technological advances obtained during and soon after WWII.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It was Netanyahu forcing Trump to join in by starting the war unilaterally, to protect his own arse in up-coming elections. If he loses, he risks prosecution. The land-grab in Lebanon is part of it too. Some more opportunities for state sponsored terrorism are always sure to boost his poll numbers.

      Trump is use a useful idiot who allowed himself to be manoeuvred into a position where American had to join in once Israel started the attacks.

      • Re: Closet Environmentalist? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @06:29AM (#66125306)

        the trump crime family is profiting nicely from their iranian entanglements.

        those mysterious trades around every trump statement on the war, do you really think they are random?

        then there are the Saudi payouts to inavnka's cuckold, kushner.

        etc etc.

      • It was Netanyahu forcing Trump to join in by starting the war unilaterally

        The only country you can force to join a war by starting one yourself is the country you attacked. Make no mistake, Trump's actions are 100% Trump's actions. His had wasn't forced in the slightest, and in fact a significant portion of voters would fully support leaving Israel to their own devices.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Jeremi ( 14640 )

          Trump's actions are 100% Trump's actions. His had wasn't forced in the slightest

          Trump's actions are 100% Trump's responsibility ("the buck stops here" is still part of the Presidential employment contract, even if Trump doesn't think so).

          OTOH, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Netanyahu played hardball to "encourage" Trump to help. It's one of the downsides of having a "colorful" sex life in your youth and then gaining political power later on -- too many people have solid evidence of your transgressions, and now motivation to use them to influence your decision-making.

          So when Netany

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by znrt ( 2424692 )

        Trump is use a useful idiot who allowed himself to be manoeuvred into a position where American had to join in once Israel started the attacks.

        yes and no. israel's and us' agendas conflict but also overlap. don't buy the whole "the tail wags the dog" and "netanyahu is the root of all evil" narrative, that's just another distraction. both netanyahu and trump are tools in the hands of the western financial cartel and this actually extends to us and israel themselves, and everything inside and inbetween. if they're tools that means that once used they can be expended, rebuilt or repurposed and the loss is already factored in. for the greater good, mo

      • I blame the Christians for all of that mess. If the Jews don't hold the holy land, then Jesus can't come back. Due back any day now...

  • The half full glass (Score:3)

    by r1348 ( 2567295 ) on Sunday May 03, 2026 @07:37AM (#66125360)

    If anything, Trump involuntarily proved how fragile and unreliable the global oil trade is in a post-globalization world.
    He might have saved us all from climate change, someone give him a sold gold prize of sorts. You can make one up, it's fine.

  • Obviously, each country should focus on home-grown energy use. Resource-poor China can cover the Gobi desert in solar panels and produce electric cars ... same with Norway exploiting its hydro-resources. Internal combustion gas is the obvious "driver" for Russia & Levant. Southern Africa sports uranium deposits, so mini-reactors naturally power buses and trains. The USA has lots of coal. So ... obviously ,,, coal-fired steam-engines power autos. It's the "natural choice. Besides
    • Should have mentioned ... Greeks, Italians and Spaniards can walk.  It's well-known ... they are peoples with long legs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shilly ( 142940 )

        The Levant has fantastic insolation and lots of wind, and Spain is already at the point of having negative electricity pricing for much of its summer thanks to the solar it's already deployed

  • I came here hoping for just a little bit of interesting discussion about aspects of the actual story. There are so many! Here's just a few:
    1. The impact on low income countries from rapid growth in solar, with literally tens of millions of people likely to gain some energy security this year from the increased export of solar
    2. 36 of the 68GW of solar exports were cells and wafers vs complete panels, showing that other regions are ramping up manufacturing capacity
    3. That 68GW is more than Spain's entire dep

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      I would love to see rough calculations for the net fossil fuel demand destruction of the surge.

      A barrel of oil is about 6 GJ and the normal flow through the strait of Hormuz is about 20 million barrels a day, so that's 6 x 10^9 * 20 * 10 ^ 6 = 120 * 10 ^ 15 J / day.

      Divide by 8.64 * 10^4 to get J / s (Watts) and 10^9 to get GW and, if I didn't drop any zeros anywhere, you get 1389 GW.

      Solar panels don't typically produce their full capacity continuously, oil isn't typically used entirely for energy production

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