Electric vehicles purr ahead in industry fair
By Jin Jing |
November 4, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
The new-energy vehicle show, a first-time addition to the China International Industry Fair 2011, has attracted most attention since the exhibition began on Tuesday.
Automakers are using the new event to further tap market potential for new energy cars while ordinary consumers are hoping to see models equipped with various fuel-efficient green technologies to help them save on driving costs.
SAIC Motor Corp, China's largest auto group, unveiled five new-energy vehicles at the fair, including the debut of the E50 pure electric car after four years of development. The model, powered by a lithium ion battery, gives zero emission and will be locally produced in October next year.
"The battery-powered E50 can run a maximum mileage of 190 kilometers," said Chen Zhixin, executive vice president of SAIC, "The model boasts world-leading technology."
Shanghai's Jiading District, which operates the international EV zone, also displayed several new energy vehicles such as General Motors' extended-range plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt and Coda electric car that will start selling in the United States next year.
The fair also attracted auto companies to show their latest energy-saving technologies for spare parts as well as charging facilities.
Many industry experts believed China has the potential to be one of the largest markets for clean vehicles given its rapidly growing car population.
Although carmakers are pushing ahead with clean vehicle development, sales of new-energy vehicles in China are still limited as customers are deterred by the high cost and technology safety of the advanced batteries.
The wide-use of electric vehicles also depends on infrastructure, which is still underdeveloped and suffers from a lack of unified standards. For example, there are more than seven kinds of charging sockets made by different carmakers at the fair this year.
"A unified charging standard is crucial, otherwise there will be a huge waste of resources," said an official from Chang'an Automobile Group.
The country aims to have 1 million electric-powered vehicles running on the streets by 2015 although hefty subsidies the government hands out are still targeted at government purchases.
Many industry experts have urged for more subsidies to be offered to individual auto buyers to further promote the use of electric vehicles to private consumers.
SAIC said it would offer an extra 32,000 yuan (US$5,079) discount on purchases of its Roewe 750 hybrid sedan during the fair, allowing the model to be sold at 204,800 yuan.
The central government has declared the electric vehicle industry a top priority and is reportedly investing 100 billion yuan in the next 10 years to transform the country into one of the leading producers of clean vehicles.
"We will spend 6 billion yuan on plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next five years," SAIC's Chen said.
"No matter how expensive the engineering cost is, we'll have to do it because new-energy vehicles are an opportunity for us to catch up with international rivals."
Automakers are using the new event to further tap market potential for new energy cars while ordinary consumers are hoping to see models equipped with various fuel-efficient green technologies to help them save on driving costs.
SAIC Motor Corp, China's largest auto group, unveiled five new-energy vehicles at the fair, including the debut of the E50 pure electric car after four years of development. The model, powered by a lithium ion battery, gives zero emission and will be locally produced in October next year.
"The battery-powered E50 can run a maximum mileage of 190 kilometers," said Chen Zhixin, executive vice president of SAIC, "The model boasts world-leading technology."
Shanghai's Jiading District, which operates the international EV zone, also displayed several new energy vehicles such as General Motors' extended-range plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt and Coda electric car that will start selling in the United States next year.
The fair also attracted auto companies to show their latest energy-saving technologies for spare parts as well as charging facilities.
Many industry experts believed China has the potential to be one of the largest markets for clean vehicles given its rapidly growing car population.
Although carmakers are pushing ahead with clean vehicle development, sales of new-energy vehicles in China are still limited as customers are deterred by the high cost and technology safety of the advanced batteries.
The wide-use of electric vehicles also depends on infrastructure, which is still underdeveloped and suffers from a lack of unified standards. For example, there are more than seven kinds of charging sockets made by different carmakers at the fair this year.
"A unified charging standard is crucial, otherwise there will be a huge waste of resources," said an official from Chang'an Automobile Group.
The country aims to have 1 million electric-powered vehicles running on the streets by 2015 although hefty subsidies the government hands out are still targeted at government purchases.
Many industry experts have urged for more subsidies to be offered to individual auto buyers to further promote the use of electric vehicles to private consumers.
SAIC said it would offer an extra 32,000 yuan (US$5,079) discount on purchases of its Roewe 750 hybrid sedan during the fair, allowing the model to be sold at 204,800 yuan.
The central government has declared the electric vehicle industry a top priority and is reportedly investing 100 billion yuan in the next 10 years to transform the country into one of the leading producers of clean vehicles.
"We will spend 6 billion yuan on plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next five years," SAIC's Chen said.
"No matter how expensive the engineering cost is, we'll have to do it because new-energy vehicles are an opportunity for us to catch up with international rivals."
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