If both China and the US were a free market that didn't subsidize electric car production and construction, neither country would have any electric car manufacturers.
I mean, I suppose it comes down to "define free market". No market is entirely free, but it's totally conceivable that you could have a non-protectionist market which still subsidises market segments seen as desirable. That is generally ~how the US and EU markets writ large have worked for the past few decades, say (though cars are a bit of a special case, and the US in particular has always been quite keen on protectionism there.)
rsynnott|1 year ago