Top battery scientist Stefano Passerini relocates to China

World-leading battery scientist Stefano Passerini has taken up a full-time position at Nanjing Normal University in eastern China. Advertisement The 65-year-old Italian researcher – a member of Germany’s National Academy of Sciences – will head the new International Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, the university said in a statement. At a ceremony at the Xianlin campus on Thursday, Passerini said his decision to move to Nanjing reflected his confidence in the university’s research, talent and potential. Passerini pledged to build the institute into a world-class research centre and a bridge…

Chinese EVs threaten Japan’s dominance of south-east Asia car market

Surging sales of affordable Chinese electric cars are breaking Japanese automakers’ decades-long grip on south-east Asia, foreshadowing disruption across other regional vehicle markets. The market share of Japan’s producers, led by Toyota, Honda and Nissan, has fallen to 62 per cent of car sales in south-east Asia’s six biggest markets in the first half of 2025, down from an average of 77 per cent in the 2010s, according to PwC data analysis. China has increased its share from negligible volumes to more than 5 per cent of 3.3mn annual car…