|
Beijing is spearheading the movement toward electric cars from gasoline-driven cars. The city will create more charging stations and more facilities for recycling batteries for privately owned electric vehicles. It now has completed four major charging stations, one of which, named Gaoantun, is the largest of its kind in the world. By the end of this year, Beijing will have over 5,000 new-energy vehicles in the public service sector, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.
As the next step, Beijing will establish an intelligent service network for charging and recycling batteries by the end of 2015, with a service station built within a radius of less than every 5 km within the Fifth Ring Road. Fast-charging posts will be set up near some transfer bus or subway stations to ensure it only takes half an hour to charge over 80 percent of the battery.
Eighty-eight new-energy vehicles are on show at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (April 23-May 2). Although they represent a smaller number compared with those in 2011, they are more practical and in line with consumers' actual needs, said Wang Xia, President of the Automotive Industry Committee under the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
"The new promotion plan for new-energy vehicles charts the course for the future development of automakers, thereby helping spur the leaping development of the sector," said Wang.
China's automaker BYD revealed its second-generation plug-in hybrid, the Qin concept (named after China's first empire), at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. BYD's first plug-in hybrid, the F3DM, was introduced in 2008 but didn't have strong sales, like most green vehicles in China. Like the F3DM, Qin will feature two modes of operation: hybrid mode (HEV) and pure electrical (EV). The speed up time from 0 to 100 km/h for the model is only 6.9 seconds and the overall cost for every 100 km is 16 yuan ($2.54), an equal to 2 liters of gasoline. With its better performance over the last generation, Qin has been widely applauded by netizens.
Toyota Motor, a multinational with renowned performance in energy-saving and new-energy vehicles in the Chinese market, sold 267 Prius cars in March, a hybrid vehicle that Toyota put a lot of emphasis on, while the sales of another hybrid vehicle Lexus CT200h has amounted to 1,456 units. Sales of hybrid cars took up 25 percent of Lexus' overall sales volume in March.
Toyota's new-energy vehicles have become a focal point at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. Sixteen types of new-energy vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV), are on show at the exhibition, accounting for over 30 percent of the total number of displayers.
Other automakers also have made lots of efforts in manufacturing green vehicles. By the end of 2011, 361 kinds of new-energy vehicles had been posted on product announcement of 75 automakers, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Although government planners have come to the consensus that electrification is the ultimate route for automobiles, it doesn't mean pure-electric vehicles have become a popular choice among consumers.
Hybrid vehicles have become a mature industry and pure-electric vehicles are still being developed. Due to technological obstacles, pure-electric vehicles are at a starting point. After five years, it may have relatively fast development, said Wang Binggang, leader of the consulting experts of the energy-saving and new-energy vehicle project attached to the 863 Plan, a national plan for hi-tech development.
Participants at the annual meeting of China (Shanghai) International Electric Vehicle Pilot City Partnership Organization held on April 14 emphasized the importance of innovation of business mode in green vehicle development.
"Incentive policies for the pilot city program of new-energy vehicles will be adjusted at the end of 2012. The next step is to expand the pilot program to more cities in China and to emphasize more on the innovation of the business mode," said Zhang Jinhua, Deputy Secretary General of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China.
For now, there are three types of business models in China's pilot cities for new-energy vehicles, including the auto sales mode, represented by Hefei; the leasing mode, including battery lease and vehicle lease, represented by Hangzhou; and the finance lease mode practiced in Hefei and Hangzhou where finance companies purchase the batteries and then lease them to bus companies.
The electric vehicle industry in China has yet to be fully commercialized, and commercialization of products needs to be backed by a successful business model, said Zhang. "And the model is based on convenient purchase and use of electric vehicles by common people," Zhang said.
Email us at:lanxinzhen@bjreview.com | 
