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New energy vehicles in China: policies, demonstration, and progress

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Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since 2009, China has become the largest new vehicle market in the world. To address the energy security and urban air-pollution concerns that emerge from rapid vehicle population growth, China has initiated the Thousands of Vehicles, Tens of Cities (TVTC) Program to accelerate the new energy vehicle (NEV) commercialization. In this paper, we summarize the efforts made by the Chinese government since 1995 in the areas of research and development, demonstration, and communalization of NEVs; evaluate the progress of NEV demonstration; and provide some recommendations for future development. Our analysis has determined that the deployment of NEVs for the TVTC Program is lagging behind the original plan and, on average, only 26–36% of the goals have been attained by October 2011. Although China has approved many NEV models for sale, significantly more than 50% of them are not in production. On the other hand, stimulated by the policy shift, electric vehicle production has increased considerably, thereby contributing 23% and 44% of the total NEV production in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Additionally, because of the constraints imposed by price and technology maturity, lead-acid battery technology is a substantial factor in the high-volume sales of top NEV car models.

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Notes

  1. Particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm or less.

  2. SPVs include garbage trucks, street sweeping trucks, construction trucks, tourist vehicles, post office vehicles, etc.

  3. The ratio is that of rated power of the electric motor to the sum of the rated power of the electric motor and the on-board engine.

  4. The recent certified NEV models are listed in the 27th Auto Product Bulletin, dated October 20, 2011.

  5. FCVs are not included because there are no models approved for receiving subsidies.

  6. Once a maker or model does not have production for two continuous years, we assume that the maker or model is inactive and no longer exists.

  7. Because of limited data, we were unable to allocate NEV production data before 2010 to models, makers, and provinces.

  8. Even considering the data update issue and assuming that all produced NEVs since 2009 go to 25 cities (i.e., 18,702 NEVs by October 2011), the average progress was only 36%.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the United States Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors thank Dr. Hao Cai of Argonne National Laboratory for providing assistance for this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA

    Huiming Gong, Michael Q. Wang & Hewu Wang

  2. the China Sustainable Energy Program, the Energy Foundation, Rm. 2403 CITIC Bldg., Jianguomenwai Dajie No. 19, Beijing, 100004, People’s Republic of China

    Huiming Gong

  3. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Hewu Wang

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  1. Huiming Gong
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  2. Michael Q. Wang
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Correspondence to Huiming Gong.

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Gong, H., Wang, M.Q. & Wang, H. New energy vehicles in China: policies, demonstration, and progress. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 18, 207–228 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-012-9358-6

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