Electric and Hybrid Cars: a Pilot Project in 5 Chinese Cities
15 June 2010
A new pilot project was lunched in five Chinese cities: it will provide subsidies to buyers of electric and hybrid cars. The project follows the government policy aiming to cut the emissions of the world's biggest auto market. The Ministry of Finance announced that the residents of the 5 cities (Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Hefei and Changchun) will receive up to 50,000 Yuan in subsidies if they buy plug-in hybrid cars. The maximum subsidy for those who buy fully electric cars was set at 60,000 Yuan, the ministry said.

However some aspects need more attention and some points are still unsolved, such as the high costs of batteries and the set up and management of the charging network. The project is nonetheless very promising and a good starting point showing the willingness of the Chinese government to take and fund action on such important issues.

This is not the only Chinese initiative on environmental topics: Beijing's tax incentives for small cars and the government's subsidies for vehicle buyers in rural areas helped domestic vehicle sales with a surge of the 46% last year, reaching 13.6 million sold units and thus surpassing the United States as the world's top auto market."
 

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