Elon Musk warned Chinese EV firms could "demolish" rivals like Tesla without trade barriers. AdvertisementA decade ago, Elon Musk laughed off the threat posed by Chinese electric carmaker BYD . "The Chinese car companies are the most competitive car companies in the world," Musk told investors during Tesla's Q4 earnings call. I think the Chinese companies are more willing to take risks and gamble with something and see how it goes," he said. Something else that may stop Chinese EV companies from overrunning the US market with cheap models is range.

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Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, —, BYD, Musk, Biden, Zhang Fan, Fortune, we've, John Helveston, Helveston, Nio, Dr, Fei Shen, Shen Organizations: Service, EV, Companies, Chery, GAC, George Washington University, US, Nio's, BI Locations: Mexico, China, Europe