China to make one mln new-energy vehicles in 2012

Shanghai, September 3 (Gasgoo.com) With four or five years of efforts, there will be at least one million new-energy vehicles to be produced in China by 2012, accounting for 10% of the country's total auto output that year, a technology official in China said recently, as reported by state media today.
 
On a new-energy auto forum held on August 31, China's Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang first made clear the production goal of one million new-energy vehicles in 2012 in China. He said that if 10% of China-made vehicles can use new energy, the country would save 780 million liters of oil and reduced the carbon dioxide emissions by 2.3 million tons each year. But currently new-energy vehicles only have gained less than 1% market share in China.

During the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in August, the operation of many new-energy vehicles proved to be a great success. Wan noted that this successful practice is expected to boost the development and production of new-energy vehicles in China's auto industry. About 600 new-energy vehicles, including 55 electric-lithium-cell buses, 25 hybrid buses, 75 hybrid sedans, 20 fuel-cell sedans, and 410 electric cars, were used for ferrying athletes and spectators of the Olympics last month.

The Beijing Olympics is seen as a landmark in China's energy-efficiency drive and new-energy vehicle development. The global sports event had offered a golden opportunity for Chinese carmakers to develop new-energy vehicles independently with cutting-edge technologies, but it is no easy task to for them to produce one million such vehicles in 2012, said the minister.

 Chery A5 hybrid cars have done chauffeur duty at the Beijing Olympics