Resilience evaluation and enhancing for China’s electric vehicle supply chain in the presence of attacks: A complex network analysis approach

Abstract

Over the past decade, the electric vehicle (EV) industry has experienced rapid growth, necessitating a deeper understanding of its supply chain network’s structure and resilience. This study presents an analysis into China’s EV supply chain network through a two-tier network, employing complex network approach to explore its topological characteristics and network’s resilience. The results reveal that the nodes within China’s EV network follow a power-law distribution, with shorter average path lengths compared to other automobile networks, indicating a concentration of connections upstream. The resilience assessment shows that while the network is resilient against random attacks, it is significantly vulnerable to targeted attacks. Importantly, the High-Betweenness Addition (HBA) strategy is identified as a better strategy for improving the network’s overall resilience. This strategy of reinforcing the centrality of core nodes within the supply chain is highlighted as a crucial approach for enhancing the network’s resilience. Our findings underscore the importance of developing strategic connections among high-betweenness nodes to distribute these enhancements evenly, aiming to add one or two edges for enhancing network resilience. This study offers a lucid roadmap for enhancing the resilience of China’s EV supply chain network in the face of emerging challenges.