CEO of German carmaker BMW Oliver Zipse presents the New Class project, the new electric vehicle concepts, during a preview event in Munich on September 2.

Photo: tobias schwarz/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse this weekend spoke a politically uncomfortable truth about Europe’s force-fed electric vehicle transition. Lo, banning gas-powered cars will super-charge Chinese EV manufacturers and harm the West’s auto makers. Is President Biden listening?

If the European Union follows through on its plans to ban gas-powered cars, “the base car market segment will either vanish or will not be done by European manufacturers,” Mr. Zipse told the Financial Times. He nodded to the global ambitions of Chinese EV makers, which can produce cars more cheaply owing to lower energy and labor costs as well as extensive supply-chains.

Increasing EV shipments helped China this year overtake Japan as the world’s top vehicle exporter. Auto makers are exporting more EVs made in China to Europe to meet government mandates. Low-priced Chinese EV makers such as Geely, BYD and Xpeng are also vying for the European market, fueled by subsidies and hefty gas taxes.

PricewaterhouseCoopers last year estimated that up to 800,000 Chinese-built cars could be sold in Europe by 2025, which would turn the continent into a net vehicle importer. PwC noted that Chinese manufacturers are selling more EVs in Europe while both European and American manufacturers are increasingly shifting their EV production to China.

Mr. Zipse warned that competition from Chinese EV manufacturers could spur a price war in Europe that erodes domestic manufacturer margins. Competition in China from home-grown EV makers has already compelled Tesla and other foreign auto makers to slash their prices. Some are eating big losses. BYD this year surpassed ’s VW brand as China’s best-selling car. U.S. auto makers are also losing tens of thousands of dollars on each EV they sell, which they are offsetting with profits on gas-powered cars.

Democrats and the climate left promoted EV subsidies and bans on gas-powered cars as urgent necessities to stop the Chinese from dominating the global market. That isn’t how it’s turning out. The U.S. and Europe risk destroying their home-grown auto business for an electric future largely made in China.

Journal Editorial Report: The electric-vehicle bubble starts to deflate. Image: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition