China clearly adopts pure electric vehicles as the transformation direction of the automotive industry

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesman Zhu Hongren said in Beijing on the 28th that China’s relevant departments have basically reached a consensus on the technical route for energy-saving and new energy vehicles, that is, pure electric vehicles are the main strategic orientation for the transformation of the automobile industry.

New energy vehicles have a variety of technical solutions, including hybrid vehicles, pure electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, gas vehicles, and bio-ethanol vehicles. Zhu Hongren said at a press conference that the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology are conducting research and demonstration on the technical route and have basically reached a consensus. China must focus on breakthroughs in power batteries, motors, and electronic control technologies to promote the industrialization of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and realize the leap-forward development of the Chinese automobile industry. Zhu Hong Ren quoted figures as saying that currently there are 48 vehicles for thousands of people in China, while the world average is 140 and the developed countries are 600. Therefore, there is still room for development in the Chinese auto industry. From 2002 to 2007, China’s auto sales grew at an average annual rate of 25%. In 2008, affected by the financial crisis, the growth rate of car sales once fell to 6.6%. In 2009, the growth rate rose again to about 40%. In the first nine months of this year, China's auto production and sales volume exceeded 13 million vehicles. It is estimated that the annual automobile production and sales will reach about 17 million vehicles, an increase of 25% year-on-year. China has adopted a subsidy policy for energy-saving and new energy vehicles. In January 2009, China launched a promotion program for energy-saving and new energy vehicles in the public service sector in 13 cities. It promoted 4,700 vehicles that year and expanded this year to 20 cities. In 2010, five cities including Shanghai, Changchun, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Hefei started private subsidies for the purchase of new energy vehicles, and the maximum subsidy for pure electric passenger vehicles is 60,000 yuan per vehicle.