China's EV sector in urgent need of a jump-start

After spending two years on Beijing's monthly ballot for car license plates, seen as the best way of curbing traffic congestion in the capital, my neighbor Jiao Wen finally decided to go electric to avoid what was starting to look like long odds.

But Jiao, who is 35, had to rethink again, after learning that it's also far from straightforward to go down the greener-car route.

It appears that the building of electric vehicle charging stations in her neighborhood of Chaoyang district is yet to be approved.