Automakers under the communist regime are already benefiting from huge subsidies, resulting in dramatic increases in production and allowing China to severely undercut prices of EVs made elsewhere, including in the United States.

One study shows Beijing has given China's EV manufacturers at least $231 billion in state aid over 15 years, from 2009 until the end of 2023.

The automobile sector in mainland China has been the largest in the world measured by unit production since 2008, said JATO Dynamics, a global leader in automotive data, analysis, and intelligence.

Automakers from the globe's second-biggest economy already account for more than half of the EVs produced in the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

"China wants to maintain this advantage by adding Africa to its quiver but it knows there are factors beyond its control. For example, Chinese-built EVs currently get hit by 100 percent tax when sold in America," said Layton Beard, an analyst at South Africa's Automobile Association.

"I've never seen such proactive moves in the global motor vehicle industry as I'm seeing from the Chinese; it seems like they're up to something new every week."

In May, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that tariffs on Chinese EVs would increase from 25 percent to 100 percent.

"With extensive subsidies and non-market practices leading to substantial risks of overcapacity, China's exports of EVs grew by 70 percent from 2022 to 2023—jeopardizing productive investments elsewhere," according to a statement from the White House.

"A 100 percent tariff rate on EVs will protect American manufacturers from China's unfair trade practices."

In July, the European Union raised duties on Chinese-made EVs to almost 50 percent, as sales figures showed cars from the East are becoming popular throughout Europe because they're much cheaper.