After drastically restricting the sale of new vehicles in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai to regulate traffic problems, the Chinese Government has decided to allow the use of latest battery-operated energy cars to encourage green vehicles on the roads.
The government is to lift the restrictions on the issuance of new licence plates for buyers of new energy vehicles, official media here said today.
According to a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Development and Reform Commission, new energy cars will be exempted from the current licence plate and traffic restrictions in some major cities.
Under a pilot scheme, 25 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Guangzhou, have been urged to encourage the purchase and use of environment-friendly vehicles.
The pilot cities are to map out infrastructure projects to set up electric charging posts in parking lots.
As of the end of this year, the State Grid will build 75 charging stations and over 6,000 charging posts. The number of stations is supposed to surge to 400 by 2016 and 10,000 by 2020.
New energy vehicles are a promising prospect for a low-carbon society. They also show prominence in China’s 12th Five-year Plan and attract much attention amid the present sluggish world economy.
The 2011 New Energy Vehicles Conference is to open in Beijing from December 21 to 22, organisers said yesterday.
China is working out policy-oriented, financial and technological measures in the research and development of new energy vehicles, and the country bears the potential to become the world’s largest new energy vehicle market, according to the organisers.
However, China is in huge need of high-end professional talent in the sector, according to Prof Chen Qingquan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier this year, China restricted the car sale in Beijing by issuing just over a lakh licence plates through a lottery system.