China – China has set its sights on a new objective: having a total of 500 000 active electric vehicles (EVs) by 2015, rising to 5 million by the year 2020.
This ambitious aim is in line with the country’s desire to better utilise green technology across its industrial sectors. China believes this can be accomplished by increased financial support, offering individual subsidies, and through building more recharging stations and pilot programmes throughout the nation.
The plan will introduce several notable initiatives over the next few years, covering efficient design as well as legislation. An average passenger car, for instance, will be required to consume no more than 6.9 litres of gas per 100 km by 2015. Additionally, between 2012 and 2020, more defined regulations and more attractive incentives will be put in place for vehicle makers, state officials and car buyers alike. Currently, these parties receive subsidies of up to US$ 9520 for each purchased EV in pilot cities.
In 2011, China’s central government promised to devote US$ 1.5 billion per annum to the cause over the next 10 years, stating its desire to shape a ‘leading domestic EV manufacturing industry’. Besides offering a financial injection, the government is keen on boosting current production capacity, adding in a statement: ‘We must rely on our existing industrial base, on scientific planning and an industrial lay-out to prevent the low level of blind investment and redundant construction.’
On selling approximately 13 million vehicles in 2009, China overtook the USA as the world’s largest car market. Last year’s sales estimates for electric vehicles, which average 8160 units, indicate that green technology has made big leaps of late but that there is still a long way to go. The numbers include vehicles purchased to fulfil government pilot programmes, such as e-taxi and e-bus initiatives.
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