Local governments in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region rolled out a plan on Aug. 1 to jointly build a network of charging facilities for the use of new-energy vehicles since the development of the electric car market in China has long been constrained by an insufficient number of such locations, Guangzhou's 21st Century Business Herald reports. The plan was formulated mainly to meet the demand for developing the new energy vehicle market as adequate access to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure could help spur consumers' interest in the purchase of such vehicles. It is also because the central government usually gauges local governments' efforts in promoting the use of new energy vehicles based on the number of charging facilities they have built.
In Beijing, since electric vehicles have been considered an important part of the solution to the city's worsening air quality issues, the targeted number of charging facilities to be built in the city has been set higher than in other cities.
According to Beijing's plan, it aims to drive the sales of new-energy vehicles in the city up to 170,000 vehicles by 2017 from the targeted 30,000 in 2015 and 60,000 in 2016.
This year, Shenzhen aims to sell 35,000 vehicles, while Shanghai's target is 13,000 and Guangzhou's goal is 10,000.
In the first half of this year, 14,547 electric vehicles which have obtained license plates were sold in Shanghai, a year-on-year increase of 888%. Meanwhile, 5,091 were sold in Beijing. Sales were lackluster in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to figures released by local authorities.
In an effort to spur sales of new energy vehicles, some local governments are offering incentives to encourage the private purchase and use of new energy vehicles, including issuing free license plates for electric vehicles or offering financial subsidies and tax brakes for purchases of such vehicles, according to the report.
However, foreign and domestic carmakers in China's electric vehicle industry still have a long way to go mainly due to concerns over the insufficient charging infrastructure.
The number of electric cars on the roads of Guangzhou and Shenzhen remain limited because they have been lagging other major cities in the development of charging facilities, according to the report.
Poster Comment:
Proliferation of charging stations in these large population centers may keep the world price of crude down.