UK Bans EVs with Chinese Parts from Getting Close to Military Sites

­The UK has begun taking decisive steps to prevent Chinese technology from infiltrating sensitive government (and vital consumer) areas and sites. The latest guidance bans EVs and BEVs with Chinese parts from getting within 2 miles of British military sites.

In February, the Ministry of Defense had warned that EVs supplied by China could be “listening in on drivers and passengers” – given that EVs and BEVs are constantly being updated, and it’s at least theoretically possible that these connected vehicles could receive malignant software from the People’s Republic.

James Bore, a cybersecurity expert, told the website electrive that “you can update the algorithms that govern, charge and discharge a military personnel’s EV battery on the fly. It does mean that you are being reported on. If you’re looking at sensitive sites that is data that could be useful and it could be misused.”

Of course, the U.S. already has draconian restrictions on Chinese tech – including and especially Huawei and ZTE – being anywhere close to government facilities.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA 2019) explicitly bans Huawei and ZTE equipment from use by the U.S. government, along with a similar ban related to U.S. private companies and those two foreign entities.

And while the U.S. has marginally relaxed its Huawei restrictions, innumerable Chinese companies remain on its “export control list” (to prevent China from acquiring advanced supercomputing, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology, amongst other items) plus the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s “entity list”.

For the UK’s part, they’ve claimed that “There are no centrally mandated policy restrictions on the movement of Chinese manufactured vehicles,” and not only could the policy apply to vehicles with tech originating outside of China, but individual military sites could have tighter restrictions.