New energy cars vie for in-demand license plates

Thousands of applicants hoping to put new energy vehicles on the road in Beijing will find stiff competition that may mean waiting up to eight years to get one license plate, based on data and regulations released by the capital's transport commission on Monday. 

Beijing will launch its bimonthly license lottery session to allocate the limited car license plates on Tuesday, in which the whole year's quota for new energy vehicles - 54,000, the same as last year - will be used up, and the remaining applicants will get in line for quotas in future years, according to the statement released on the official website of the Beijing Transport Commission on Monday. 

Nearly 390,000 applicants will be asking for a license plate and those newly enrolled in the lottery system may need to wait as long as eight years if only 54,000 license plates are allotted annually. 

On the other hand, the number of gasoline-powered cars has exceeded 3.1 million. That means the competition to win the lottery has become more intense since only 40,000 will be allotted this year via six sessions.

For 2019, the annual car license quota in Beijing is 100,000, the same as last year. The new energy vehicle quota is 60,000, while the rest is for gasoline-powered cars, according to data released previously by the city's transport commission.

The capital introduced the license plate lottery system in 2011 to curb the rapid growth of automobiles, among measures in recent years to control deteriorated air quality.