State Council document boosts progress of charging etwork

Plan stipulates NEV facilities be made available

The Chinese government plans more efforts to build charging networks, giving an extra boost to the development of new-energy vehicles in the world's largest auto market.

China will finish building a charging network that can meet the demand of 5 million electric cars and plug-in hybrids by the end of 2020, the State Council said in a document released on Friday.

The document stipulates that all parking lots at newly built apartments must offer charging facilities or ensure that such facilities can be installed later and 10 percent of public parking lots should be able to install charging facilities.

It also set the goal of building an inter-city fast-charging network to cover most major cities by 2020.

The document came after the State Council called for measures to beef up the development of new-energy vehicles at a meeting on Sept 29.

It urged local governments not to impose restrictions on the use or purchase of new-energy vehicles and to remove any such restrictions.

In several cities, including Beijing, applicants have to win licenses for new-energy vehicles through a lottery.

Statistics show that less than 40 percent of applicants won licenses in Beijing's bi-monthly NEV lottery in August.

The capital city's transport authorities have not announced any change since the State Council announced its decision in late September.

The State Council demanded that local governments and institutions should ensure the proportion of NEVs among their newly purchased buses and cars.

Earlier policies required that more than 30 percent of new vehicle purchases should be new-energy vehicles.

Many experts believe the moves will further stimulate rapidly rising sales of new-energy vehicles in China.

Some called for punitive measures as well, saying their absence may prompt local governments to scale down funding and purchases of new-energy vehicles.

Both mandatory and punitive steps are necessary to activate the central government's 30 percent stipulation for new-energy vehicles in fresh purchases, according to Zhang Yu, managing director of consulting firm Automotive Foresight (Shanghai) Co Ltd.

"There have already been a lot of encouraging policies, but the development of new-energy vehicles might still need some tough measures," Zhang said.

Statistics show that China sold 108,654 new-energy vehicles in the first eight months of 2015, a 270 percent rise from the same period a year earlier. Pure electric models accounted for the majority of the rise.

The remarkable performance amid China's otherwise sluggish auto sales has attracted carmakers to put more emphasis on new-energy vehicles.

German automaker Volkswagen said earlier this year that it would locally produce 15 new-energy models in China.

Shanghai GM has released a five-year plan with new-energy vehicles one of its highlights.

Hebei-based Great Wall Motor plans to earmark more than 11 billion yuan ($1.73 billion) to develop new-energy vehicles, and it is reported that its first electric car will hit the market in early 2016.

Chongqing-headquartered Changan Automobile said it would spend 18 million yuan on new-energy vehicles and release 34 new-energy models over the next 10 years.

lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/12/2015 page18)