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Clean energy cars have made leaps and bounds over the last decade - they even have a forum devoted entirely to them.
China's 7th Energy Efficiency and New Energy expo kicked off on Tuesday, and our reporter was there to survey the latest trends.
From auto shows to sales rooms, new energy cars are all the buzz in China, and with a strong backing from the government to boot.
Wang Weizhong, Vice Minister of China Science & Technology Ministry said, "Developing new energy vehicles is important in adjusting the structure of China's auto industry. We have a lot to expect in this sector, including core technologies with our own intellectual property rights."
The government has introduced a number of incentives to encourage the sales of new energy cars. Subsidies for buying one of these cars can be as much as 60,000 yuan. In Shenzhen, the local government matches the national subsidy, giving consumers up to 120,000 yuan back. And in Beijing, purchases of green cars is exempt from the city's car license lottery system.
China's 7th Energy Efficiency and New Energy expo kicked off on Tuesday.
CCTV reporter said, "Saving 60,000 yuan or more on a car is certainly attractive... but is it enough? For some consumers, 'range anxiety' could be a deterrent to buying a new energy vehicle. That is, will the car get them to their destinations? Can it be conveniently charged? Green cars will have to prove they can operate as efficiently as their gas buzzing predecessors."
Some producers already have some solutions.
General Motors is exhibiting its Volt, an electric car planned to hit the Chinese market at the end of the year.
Its onboard gas generator can power the car for additional miles even after the battery is depleted.
Ray Beirzynski of General Motors China said, "So you get up to 80 kilometers out of battery only, then followed by up to 490 kilometers of additional capacity. So this stretches to over 500 kilometers of range. If frees you from what you might call range anxiety."
New energy buses are perfect candidates, as their driving ranges are planned.
These electric buses, produced by a Jiangsu-based company, are already being exported to Europe, South America and Africa.
China's 7th Energy Efficiency and New Energy expo kicked off on Tuesday.
Deng Chunxiao, Marketing Manager of Zonda Automobile Co. said, "We're now selling around 1000 electric buses every year, this one we're sitting in right now costs 2 million yuan. Currently, electric buses account for one third of our total sales. We hope this figure can increase in the future."
Deng Chunxiao, along with his peers, are anxiously waiting the Chinese government's ten-year plan for the industry. There's little doubt that a huge amount of money will be invested in clean cars - but where and who it will go to is speculation at this point.
Zhang Yunhong, chief consultant of Qingshan Energy Research Inst. In Hubei said, "They need to figure out how to divert the money - should it go to electric vehicles, or plug-in hybrid vehicles, or fuel cell ones? ...I think the focus should be on electric vehicles, because China's own technology development in this area is advanced, even competing on the world stage."
Like many new technologies, clean energy cars faces hurdles ahead. But little by little, range anxiety for the development of this industry eases.
China's 7th Energy Efficiency and New Energy expo kicked off on Tuesday.
Source:Li Wanran