EV Makers in China Turn to Social Media Influencers for an Edge

Emma Meng, dressed in a pale pink Victoria’s Secret top, faces the selfie stick reflected in her bathroom mirror and ties her tresses back into a tousled ponytail. Young and fresh-faced, she may seem ready to offer a hairstyling tutorial or skin-care review. Instead, she launches into a dissection of Tesla Inc.’s Battery Day, complete with an analysis of its 4680 power cell and the latest developments on nickel cathodes.

Meng, or EV Emma as she’s known to her 700,000 followers, is among the swelling ranks of Chinese influencers blogging, vlogging, and flogging cars in the world’s biggest electric vehicle market. The money is so good that some like Meng, who graduated from Cambridge University in 2013 and worked as a regional business developer in France, were able to ditch their corporate careers. In the process they’re helping reshape the way automobiles are sold in a nation that was late to embrace personal car ownership but is driving full speed into cleaner, greener vehicles.